E7-24314. Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.) (BHC Act), Regulation Y (12 CFR Part 225), and all other applicable statutes and regulations to become a bank holding company and/or to acquire the assets or the ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks and nonbanking companies owned by the bank holding company, including the companies listed below.

The applications listed below, as well as other related filings required by the Board, are available for immediate inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank indicated. The application also will be available for inspection at the offices of the Board of Governors. Interested persons may express their views in writing on the standards enumerated in the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1842(c)). If the proposal also involves the acquisition of a nonbanking company, the review also includes whether the acquisition of the nonbanking company complies with the standards in section 4 of the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1843). Unless otherwise noted, nonbanking activities will be conducted throughout the United States. Additional information on all bank holding companies may be obtained from the National Information Center website at www.ffiec.gov/​nic/​.

Unless otherwise noted, comments regarding each of these applications must be received at the Reserve Bank indicated or the offices of the Board of Governors not later than January 11, 2008.

A. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (David Tatum, Vice President) 1000 Peachtree Street, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30309:

1. Independent Bancshares, Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan; to acquire 26.12 percent of the voting shares of Independent Bancshares, Inc., and thereby indirectly acquire voting shares of Community Spirit Bank, all of Red Bay, Alabama, and Spirit Bancshares, Inc., and Spirit Bank, both of Belmont, Mississippi.

B. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (Glenda Wilson, Community Affairs Officer) 411 Locust Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63166-2034:

1. Carroll Financial Services, Inc., Huntingdon, Tennessee; to acquire 100 percent of the voting shares of Bradford Bancshares, Inc., and thereby indirectly acquire voting shares of The Bank of Bradford, both of Bradford, Tennessee.

2. First Banks, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri; to acquire an additional 1.21 percent, for a total of 24.99 percent, of the voting shares of Community West Bancshares, and thereby indirectly acquire additional voting shares of Community West Bank, National Association, both of Goleta, California.

C. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (Todd Offenbacker, Assistant Vice President) 925 Grand Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri 64198-0001:

1. Central Financial Corporation, Hutchinson, Kansas; to retain 6.04 percent of the voting shares of Valley Capital Bank, N.A., Mesa, Arizona.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, December 12, 2007.

Robert deV. Frierson,

Deputy Secretary of the Board.