Community Bank

A community bank is a depository institution (Retail Bank) that is typically locally owned and operated. Community banks tend to focus on the needs of the businesses and families where the bank holds branches and offices. Lending decisions are made by people who understand the local needs of families, businesses and farmers. Employees often reside within the communities they serve. In the United States, community banks are defined as independent banks and savings institutions and bank and savings institution holding companies with aggregate assets less than $1 billion.[1] From 1985 to 2004 they comprised 94% of all banks in the United States, but the proportion of expanding total national deposits that the Community Banks held declined from about 25.89% of all U.S. deposits in 1985 to 13.55% of the U.S. deposits in 2003. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_bank