E8-19978. 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 applications 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 September 22, 2008.

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

1. Citizens Investors, LLC, Savannah, Georgia, to become a bank holding company by acquiring at least 51 percent of the voting shares of First Citizens Bankshares, Inc., and thereby indirectly acquire voting shares of First Citizens Bank, both of Glennville, Georgia.

B. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (Burl Thornton, Assistant Vice President) 230 South LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60690-1414:

1. SBA Bancorp, Inc., Ashland, Illinois, to merge with First Beardstown Bancorp, Inc., and thereby indirectly acquire First State Bank of Beardstown, both of Beardstown, Illinois.

C. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (Glenda Wilson, Community Affairs Officer) P.O. Box 442, St. Louis, Missouri 63166-2034:

1. Springfield Bancshares, Inc., Springfield, Missouri, to become a bank holding company by acquiring 100 percent of the voting shares of Springfield First Community Bank, Springfield, Missouri (in organization).

D. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (Todd Offenbacker, Assistant Vice President) 1 Memorial Drive, Kansas City, Missouri 64198-0001:

1. Everest Bancshares, Inc., Everest, Kansas, to acquire 100 percent of the voting shares of Gower Bancshares, Inc., and thereby indirectly acquire voting shares of Bank of Gower, both in Gower, Missouri.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, August 25, 2008.

Robert deV. Frierson,

Deputy Secretary of the Board.