Ben Franklin Financl (BFFI)

Ben Franklin Financial, Inc. was organized on October 18, 2006 and is a majority-owned subsidiary of Ben Franklin Financial, MHC. Ben Franklin Financial, MHC is the federally-chartered mutual holding company. It engaged in attracts retail deposits from the general public in its market and investing those deposits, together with funds generated from operations and to a lesser extent borrowings, in one- to four-family residential mortgage loans and, to a lesser extent, commercial real estate loans, multi-family real estate loans, home equity lines-of-credit, construction and land loans and other loans. The main lending activity of Ben Franklin Bank of Illinois is originating and acquiring one- to four-family residential mortgage loans, commercial real estate loans, multi-family real estate loans, home equity lines-of-credit, automobile loans, construction and land loans, and other loans. The Company faces very competitive market area both in making loans and attracting deposits. Its competition for loans and deposits comes principally from commercial banks, savings institutions, mortgage banking firms and credit unions. It faces additional competition for deposits from short-term money market funds, brokerage firms, mutual funds and insurance companies. Ben Franklin Bank of Illinois is examined and supervised by the Office of Thrift Supervision. This regulation and supervision establishes a comprehensive framework of activities in which an institution may engage and is intended mainly for the protection of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's deposit insurance fund and depositors.