10.	PREFERRED STOCK

On January 9, 2009, we issued $20 million of cumulative perpetual preferred shares, with a liquidation preference of $1,000 per share (the “Senior Preferred Shares”) to the United States Treasury under its Capital Purchase Program (“CPP”). The Senior Preferred Shares constitute Tier 1 capital and rank senior to our common shares. The Senior Preferred Shares pay cumulative dividends quarterly at a rate of 5% per annum for the first five years and will reset to a rate of 9% per annum after five years. The Senior Preferred Shares may be redeemed at any time, at our option. We also have the ability to defer dividend payments at any time, at our option.

We also issued a warrant to purchase 215,983 common shares to the U.S. Treasury at a purchase price of $13.89 per share. The aggregate purchase price equals 15% of the aggregate amount of the Senior Preferred Shares purchased by the U.S. Treasury, which was $3 million. The initial purchase price per share for the warrant and the number of common shares subject to the warrant were determined by reference to the market price of the common shares (calculated on a 20-day trailing average) on December 8, 2008, the date the U.S. Treasury approved our TARP application. The warrant has a term of 10 years and is potentially dilutive to earnings per share.

On October 29, 2010, we gave written notice to the U.S. Treasury that effective with the fourth quarter of 2010, we were suspending the payment of regular quarterly cash dividends on our Senior Preferred Shares. Under the CPP provisions, failure to pay dividends for six quarters would trigger the right of the holder of our Senior Preferred Shares to appoint representatives to our Board of Directors. The dividends will continue to be accrued for payment in the future and reported as a preferred dividend requirement that is deducted from income to common shareholders for financial statement purposes. As of September 30, 2011, these accrued but unpaid dividends totaled $1.1 million.

Participation in the CPP requires a participating institution to comply with a number of restrictions and provisions, including standards for executive compensation and corporate governance and limitations on share repurchases and the declaration and payment of dividends on common shares. The standard terms of the CPP require that a participating financial institution limit the payment of dividends to the most recent quarterly amount prior to October 14, 2008, which is $0.19 per share in our case. This dividend limitation will remain in effect until the earlier of three years or such time that the preferred shares are redeemed.

On February 17, 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“ARRA”) was enacted. As required by ARRA, the U.S. Treasury has issued additional compensation standards on companies receiving financial assistance from the U.S. government. In addition, ARRA imposes certain new executive compensation and corporate expenditure limits on each CPP recipient, until the recipient has repaid the Treasury. ARRA also permits CPP participants to redeem the preferred shares held by the Treasury Department without penalty and without the need to raise new capital, subject to the Treasury’s consultation with the recipient’s appropriate regulatory agency.