Farmers National Bank, headquartered in Emlenton enjoyed continued growth in 2005.

Assets grew from $273 million to $275 million and its loan portfolio grew from $179 million to $192 million.

Farmers now has a network of 10 branch offices in six counties in Western Pennsylvania and continues to position itself as a community bank.

In a continuing effort to deliver convenient banking, Farmers National Bank has built a new drive-thru facility at its Brookville office. The facility on Madison Avenue behind the branch office will offer 24-hour ATM service and a night depository. The drive-thru's grand opening is slated for this month.

A new branch office is scheduled to open late this summer in Cranberry Township, Venango County.

"The Cranberry office fits well in our six-county region," said Dave Cox president and CEO. "We're excited to bring Farmers' community banking experience to our neighbors in Cranberry. And we're looking for other locations to expand our branch network."

Farmers National Bank's Information Technology division continued to make steps in 2005 to improve customer service. One example is offering customers the opportunity to view their checks and their statements via Internet banking.

This change allows customers to keep abreast of account activity before they receive their account statement.

Soon customers will have the option to receive their statements via e-mail.

In addition to consumer financing, Farmers National Bank has a strong commitment to the businesses. To better fulfill the credit needs of their business customers, a corporate banking unit was formed and staffed with experienced commercial lenders.

These lenders work closely with the companies to provide the appropriate financial services that will enable them to successfully grow their enterprises.

In conjunction with the corporate banking unit, which handles the larger commercial account relationships, Farmers initiated a small business lending program to facilitate smaller business credit requests that are generally handled through its branch offices. The small business loan officer brings additional expertise to assist branch managers in analyzing, underwriting and documenting smaller business loans and managing those accounts.

Farmers' investment services subsidiary named Farmers National Financial Services performed well in 2005 — its first full year in operation. The subsidiary offers customers a wide range of alternative investment options, including annuities, mutual funds and brokerage services.

"Our customers wanted investment alternatives, and we delivered. We are pleased with the outstanding success of the program," according to Cox.