The Company is a one-bank holding company incorporated under the laws of the
State of Mississippi on February 16, 1982. The Company is the sole shareholder
of The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia (“Bank”). The Company does
not have any subsidiaries other than the Bank.
The Bank was opened on February 8, 1908 as The First National Bank of Philadelphia.
In 1917, the Bank surrendered its national charter and obtained a state charter,
at which time the name of the Bank was changed to The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia,
Mississippi. The Bank was the largest bank headquartered in Neshoba County,
Mississippi.
The principal executive offices of both the Company and the Bank are located
at 521 Main Street, Philadelphia, Mississippi 39350, and the main telephone
number is (601) 656-4692. All references hereinafter to the activities or operations
of the Company reflect the Company’s activities or operations through
the Bank.
Through its ownership of the Bank, the Company engages in a wide range of commercial
and personal banking activities, including accepting demand deposits, savings
and time deposit accounts, making secured and unsecured loans, issuing letters
of credit, originating mortgage loans, and providing personal and corporate
trust services. The Company also provides certain services that are closely
related to commercial banking such as credit life insurance and title insurance
for its loan customers.
Revenues from the Company’s lending activities constitute the largest
component of the Company’s operating revenues. In 2008, the Company entered
the southern Mississippi market with the opening of a branch office in Hattiesburg,
Mississippi, which is located in Lamar County. In 2009, the Company opened a
Loan Production Office in Biloxi, Mississippi to serve the Mississippi Gulf
Coast and in April 2014 converted this office to a full service branch and at
the same time opened another branch in Biloxi. In 2011, the Company opened a
branch in Flowood, Mississippi. On a very limited basis, the Company extends
out-of-area credit only to borrowers who are considered to be low risk, as defined
within the Bank’s lending policy. The Company is not dependent upon any
single customer or small group of customers, and it has no foreign operations.
The Company’s market area is mainly rural, with Hattiesburg, population
50,233, Biloxi, population 50,644, and Meridian, population 38,314, being the
largest markets. Agriculture and some light industry comprise a significant
portion of the economy of this area. The largest employer in the Company’s
service area is the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Its schools, manufacturing
plants and main source of income, The Pearl River Resort (the “Resort”),
generate a significant number of jobs in the area. The Resort and its related
services employ approximately 2,400 people within the Company’s market.
The Company has historically made, and intends to continue to make, most types
of real estate loans, including, but not limited to, single and multi-family
housing, farm, residential and commercial construction, and commercial real
estate loans.
The Company’s loan personnel have the authority to extend credit under
guidelines established and approved by the Company’s Board of Directors.
Any aggregate credit that exceeds the authority of the loan officer is forwarded
to the Board’s loan committee for approval. The loan committee is composed
of certain independent Company directors. All aggregate credits that exceed
the loan committee’s lending authority are presented to the Board of Directors
for ultimate approval or denial. The loan committee not only acts as an approval
body to ensure consistent application of the Company’s loan policies,
but also provides valuable insight through the communication and pooling of
knowledge, judgment and experience of its members.
All loans in the Company’s portfolio are subject to risk based on the
state of both the local and national economy. The local economy has weathered
the recent downturn in the national economy with a minimum effect on employment
and production. It is still uncertain how the weakness in the local, state and
national economy will affect the Company in the future.
Through such products as its VISA Checkcard program, the 24 Hour Phone Teller
and the Bank’s Internet site (http://www.thecitizensbankphila.com), the
Company’s customers have easy and convenient access to their funds and
account balances 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Additionally, the Internet site
enables Bank customers to review their accounts in detail, make transfers between
their accounts and pay bills from anywhere in the world.
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