MOUNTAIN GROVE, Mo., Feb. 3, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Bancshares, Inc. ("Company") (OTCQB:FBSI), the holding company for First Home Savings Bank ("Bank"), today announced that the Bank had completed its charter conversion to a Missouri chartered non-member commercial bank from a Missouri chartered stock non-member thrift and has changed its corporate title to "First Home Bank." In connection with the Bank's charter conversion, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis approved the Company's application to become a bank holding company; the Company previously operated as a thrift holding company. The effective date for the charter conversion and for the Company to become a bank holding company was January 22, 2014.
"Our conversion to a state-chartered non-member commercial bank reflects the Bank's operating strategy and will also result in reduced regulatory fees," said R. Bradley Weaver, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and the Bank.
First Bancshares, Inc. is the bank holding company for First Home Bank, a FDIC-insured commercial bank chartered by the State of Missouri that conducts business from its home office in Mountain Grove, Missouri, and seven full service offices in Marshfield, Ava, Gainesville, Sparta, Springfield, Crane, and Kissee Mills, Missouri.
The Company and its wholly-owned subsidiary, First Home Bank, may from time to time make written or oral "forward-looking statements" in its reports to stockholders, and in other communications by the Company, which are made in good faith by the Company pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
These forward-looking statements include statements with respect to the Company's beliefs, expectations, estimates and intentions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and are subject to change based on various factors, some of which are beyond the Company's control. Such statements address the following subjects: future operating results; customer growth and retention; loan and other product demand; earnings growth and expectations; new products and services; credit quality and adequacy of reserves; results of examinations by our bank regulators, technology, and our employees. The following factors, among others, could cause the Company's financial performance to differ materially from the expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements: the strength of the United States economy in general and the strength of the local economies in which the Company conducts operations; the effects of, and changes in, trade, monetary, and fiscal policies and laws, including interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve Board; inflation, interest rate, market, and monetary fluctuations; the timely development and acceptance of new products and services of the Company and the perceived overall value of these products and services by users; the impact of changes in financial services' laws and regulations; technological changes; acquisitions; changes in consumer spending and savings habits; and the success of the Company at managing and collecting assets of borrowers in default and managing the risks of the foregoing.
The foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. The Company does not undertake, and expressly disclaims any intent or obligation, to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company.