October 22, 2003

The Honorable Charles E. Grassley
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510-1501

Dear Chairman Grassley:

On behalf of the 5,000 members of the Independent Community Bankers of America we thank you for holding an important hearing on the use of corporate-owned life insurance (COLI). We urge you to preserve the proper use of COLI and bank-owned life insurance (BOLI). To that end, we applaud the proposed COLI amendment offered by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) that would address abuses with COLI without jeopardizing the legitimate COLI and bank-owned life insurance products.

Many community banks large and small utilize COLI and BOLI to provides for and finance important employee benefits including retirement plans.

We appreciate your attention to the Conrad amendment and thank you for your consideration our views.

Sincerely,

Kenneth A. Guenther
President & CEO

cc: Sen. Max Baucus, Ranking Minority Member, Senate Finance Committee