Letter to Our Customers
With the close of 2009, a troubled and difficult year has finally passed. For the coming year, our customers will see some new changes within our bank. In December Nebraska National Bank sought and received approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish our first branch bank. The branch will be located at 1502 South Second Avenue in Kearney and will operate as a drive up facility with an ATM Machine available for 24 hour banking. The hours of operations will be the same as the drive up banking hours at the main location. We look forward to providing better service to our customers in the southern half of Kearney with a more convenient banking location for them.
Last year was a test for banks of all sizes and types, and a year of economic uncertainty, higher unemployment, and extreme volatility for the financial industry. Community banks, such as Nebraska National Bank, saw the adverse effets from credit disruption due to rising foreclosures nationally, a dramatic increase in failed banks, and a sharp drop in demand for loans and leases. This unrest manifested itself with an increase in the premiums paid by the bank for FDIC Insurance. During 2009, our bank paid a special surcharge assessed to all banks in September of about $65,000.00 and at the end of 2009 we prepaid FDIC assessments for the next three years as required by the FDIC. This essentially amounts to taking about $750,000.00 from funds available for lending purposes, but taking all factors into account, was necessary to ensure that the FDIC fund guaranteeing our deposits was solvent or will be in the future. Another alternative was to have the FDIC borrow directly from the U.S. Treasury, most banks would rather have our industry maintain our insurance fund without additional assistance from the US government which is presently struggling to minimize budget deficits
We are very grateful to live and do business in a community like Kearney which has not suffered the tremendous economic problems that have been seen in many other states and communities across the nation. We are also glad to live in a state that strives to operate within its financial means without adding burdens to its citizens unduly. Interest rates continue to be at very low levels causing stress to our depositors and reducing interest income many use to supplement living expenses. We expect these rates will remain low by any historical measures for another 6-12 months as the national economy struggles to put people back to work and to regrow our economy. When the rates do rise, there is a good chance the rise will be rather sharp and dramatic.
Our budgeting for 2010 is conservative with the hope that the recovery from a very nasty recession will be sustained. We do not beleive the problems facing our country are insurmountable but the problems are serious and require citizens to make intelligent and careful decisions both with their personal finances and as they do their duty as voters in the coming months. I suspect that some years from now we will all remember how worrisome this last two year period has been and we can only hope that our leaders understand and remedy the factors that caused this economic dispruption. We sincerely thank our customers for the support we have received over the past 15 years. It is very much appreciated by myself and all of my staff.
Sincerely,
Douglas C. King
President, Nebraska National Bank
Internet Banking Updates
Nebraska National Bank is committed to providing you with the services you need to help manage your finances as efficiently and securely as possible. As the Internet becomes a more popular avenue for business and banking transactions, attempts to gain access to your personal private information may also increase.
In a continued effort to strengthen the security of our Internet Banking Website we will now only support the following Browser Types and Versions (Any Version greater than listed may also be supported). This change is to help facilitate the use of better encryption support offered by newer browsers helping us to keep your peronsal information safe and secure.
- Internet Explorer 7.0
- Internet Explorer 8.0
- Mozilla Firefox 3.0
If you have any questions regarding this change please contact Nebraska National Bank at (308) 237-7711.