02-30973. 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 2, 2003.

A. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (Sue Costello, Vice President) 1000 Peachtree Street, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30303:

1. First Commerce Bankshares, Inc., Douglasville, Georgia; to become a bank holding company by acquiring 100 percent of the voting shares of First Commerce Community Bank, Douglasville, Georgia (in organization).

B. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (Phillip Jackson, Applications Officer) 230 South LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60690-1414:

1. FEB Bancshares, Inc., Neshkoro, Wisconsin; to become a bank holding company by acquiring 100 percent of the voting shares of Golden Sands Bankshares, Inc., Neshkoro, Wisconsin, and thereby indirectly acquire voting shares of Farmers Exchange Bank of Neshkoro, Wisconsin.

2. F T Bancshares, Inc., Aurelia, Iowa; to become a bank holding company by acquiring 61.58 percent of the voting shares of Aurelia F T & S Bankshares, Inc. Aurelia, Iowa, and thereby indirectly acquire voting shares of The First Trust & Savings Bank, Marcus, Iowa.

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

1. Heritage Bancshares, Inc., Topeka, Kansas; to become a bank holding company by acquiring 100 percent of the voting shares of Heritage Bank, Topeka, Kansas (in organization).

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, December 3, 2002.

Robert deV. Frierson,

Deputy Secretary of the Board.