First Security Bank of Owensboro Terminates Agreement to Purchase Branches From First Financial Service Corp.

Nov 16 - First Financial Service Corp. (NASDAQ: FFKY), parent of First Federal Savings Bank of Elizabethtown, Ky., has announced that First Security Bank of Owensboro Inc. has terminated the branch purchase agreement with First Federal. The agreement provided for the sale of First Federal's four retail banking offices in Louisville, Ky., to First Security.

First Security exercised its right to terminate the agreement because it became reasonably apparent that the agreement's financing condition would not be satisfied by Nov. 14, 2012. The financing condition provided that First Security's parent bank holding company had to raise and contribute to First Security the capital necessary to satisfy any capital injection requirement needed for governmental approval of the sale.

"Our ongoing efforts to evaluate all available strategic options to meet required regulatory capital levels will continue despite the termination of the agreement to sell our Louisville branches," stated Gregory S. Schreacke, president of First Financial Service Corp. "We will continue to provide full customer service to all of our Louisville customers."

First Financial Service Corp. is the parent bank holding company of First Federal Savings Bank of Elizabethtown, which was chartered in 1923. The bank serves the needs and caters to the economic strengths of the local communities in which it operates and strives to provide a high level of personal and professional customer service. The bank offers a variety of financial services to its retail and commercial banking customers.  These services include personal and corporate banking services, and personal investment financial counseling services. Currently, the bank serves six contiguous counties in central Kentucky through its 17 full-service banking centers.