DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec. 23, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines today announced that its President and Chief Executive Officer, Patrick J. Conway, stepped down from his position on December 22, 2005, and would be retiring from the bank on December 31, 2005. On December 22, 2005, the bank's Board of Directors appointed board member Neil N. Fruechte to serve as acting President and Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Fruechte, who has served on the board since 1999, has nearly 45 years of financial industry experience. He began his career in 1961 as a loan officer for the Farm Credit System in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he worked for 23 years. In 1985, he became president of Roundbank in Waseca, Minnesota. He retired that position at the end of 2003, but continues to serve as part-time investment officer there. Immediately prior to his election as acting President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Fruechte resigned from the bank's board of directors.
Mr. Fruechte stated, "We look forward to serving our more than 1,200 members in 2006 and providing them with the same low-cost funding and customer service that they deserve and expect from the Home Loan Bank."
"We appreciate Mr. Conway's six years of service to the bank and wish him well in his future endeavors," stated Mr. Randy Newman, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines.
The board has retained an executive search firm to conduct a nationwide search for Mr. Conway's replacement.
Statements contained in this announcement, including statements describing the objectives, projections, estimates or future predictions in our operations, may be forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as anticipates, believes, could, estimate, may, should and will or their negatives or other variations on these terms. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk or uncertainty and actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied or could affect the extent to which a particular objective, projection, estimate or prediction is realized.
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines is a AAA-rated wholesale bank that provides low-cost short and long-term funding and community lending to more than 1,200 stockholder commercial banks, saving institutions, credit unions and insurance companies. The Bank is wholly owned by its members and receives no taxpayer funding. The Des Moines Bank serves Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota, and is one of twelve regional banks that make up the Federal Home Loan Bank System.