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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Neil Cotiaux, FHLBank Pittsburgh: 412-288-2851; cell: 412-335-9488; Neil.cotiaux@fhlb-pgh.com
Donita R. Koval, president and CEO, Omega Bank: 1-877-861-7800

OMEGA BANK WINS PILLARS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNITY-BUILDING:
ANNUAL AWARD FROM FHLBANK PITTSBURGH HIGHLIGHTS AFFORDABLE HOUSING

STATE COLLEGE, PA , June 8, 2006 - Omega Bank, a community bank serving 15 Pennsylvania counties through more than 65 offices, is the 2006 recipient of a Pillars of the Community Award for outstanding leadership in the area of community commitment. The award will be presented to Donita R. Koval, president and chief executive officer of State College-based Omega Bank at a regional meeting of community bankers in Hazleton next Tuesday.

“Each year, FHLBank Pittsburgh honors a handful of members that have applied a multitude of resources in the relentless pursuit of community-building,” said John R. Price, president and chief executive officer of FHLBank, a wholesale lender of low-cost financing to community banks across Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia. “These Pillars of the Community recipients exemplify outstanding leadership and a civic commitment that sets them apart. Homes become affordable, businesses create jobs, neighborhoods gain new vitality and families prosper, thanks to these very special banks.”

FHLBank Pittsburgh selected Omega Bank as a 2006 Pillars award-winner primarily due to its exemplary work in the field of affordable housing. In 2005, Omega Bank oversaw the completion of two projects that benefited from $600,000 in Affordable Housing Program funding. One project, Remley Place, made three-bedroom homes available for sale to 20 first-time homebuyers in the village of Dewart. The other, St. Gabriel House in Hazleton, rehabilitated a women's shelter into 16 units of housing for the homeless, including single parents and those with addictions. In addition, Omega Bank received a half-million dollar funding commitment for a low-income elderly housing project to be developed in Williamsburg. Omega Bank was also the top-producing Pennsylvania originator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Guaranteed Rural Housing Loan Program.

Combined with its support of a library building project and theater renovation in State College, the donation of a bank building to the Borough of Selinsgrove, a facade restoration project in Steelton and more than $400,000 in contributions to charitable causes, Omega Bank's commitment to community investment is clear, Price said.

Established in 1932 to provide a steady stream of low-cost housing finance to its membership, FHLBank Pittsburgh has expanded its mission in recent years to include financing for business startup and expansion and a variety of community and economic development projects. The Bank is one of twelve FHLBanks, all cooperatively owned banks using private capital for a public mission.