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Baylake Bank Receives Significant State and National Awards:
Wisconsin Bankers Association and American Bankers Association Present Baylake with Recognition for Outstanding Community Involvement

October 19, 2007

Baylake Bank recently received two awards, one state-wide and one national, recognizing the bank across the state of Wisconsin and the U.S. for its role and positive influence as a community leader. The Wisconsin Bankers Association (WBA) honored Baylake with a Personal Economics Program (PEP) award for the bank’s financial education outreach throughout 2007, and the American Bankers Association (ABA) presented the bank with first place honors in the category of  “Inspirational” for its sponsorship and marketing of the 2006 Baylake Bank Tall Ship Festival.

“I am absolutely thrilled that the efforts and dedication of our staff have been rewarded in this fashion,” commented Baylake Bank President/CEO Rob Cera. “This is truly evidence of our corporate culture of community involvement and service.” Cera added, “Our financial education efforts have for many years been an underlying theme in our role as a community bank, so we are of course pleased to receive appreciation for our work in this area. But the national recognition of our work with the Baylake Bank Tall Ship Festival is really a testimonial to what we’ve known all along – that our contributions to this festival and the community have had far-reaching, long-term positive results. We look forward to celebrating more achievements like this with our communities in 2008 and beyond!”

The WBA is the state’s largest financial industry trade association, and its PEP program is a partnership of bankers, educators, and others voluntarily working together to educate Wisconsin residents of all ages. WBA recognized Baylake Bank employees for their efforts in teaching students about budgeting, saving, money management issues, economics, currency, and more, and for presenting informational seminars for adults & businesses about topics such as identity theft & fraud protection.

The ABA is the largest banking trade association in the country, and announced the winners of its 2007 Financial Marketing Awards in Baltimore, Maryland, during its annual marketing conference. The awards recognize the year's most impressive bank marketing campaigns, including print, radio, television, direct mail, multi-media and online advertising in the financial services industry. A panel of financial services marketers and advertising professionals judged entries based on the implementation of the communications strategy, tone, message and positioning, as well as the campaign's overall quality.

Baylake Bank was a finalist in three of the six categories for which it had submitted entries for banks its size ($1-5 billion): customer retention, community service, and inspirational. Baylake Bank marketing representatives Erica Hickey and Michelle Meacham were present on behalf of the bank at the ABA conference in Baltimore to accept the first place “Inspiration” award when it was announced. “This award is a result of the extraordinary efforts that our entire marketing department, as well as every employee of Baylake Bank, put forth to help ensure that the Tall Ship Festival was successful for the bank and the whole community,” said Sue Anschutz, Baylake Bank Senior Vice President – Marketing. “We are all very proud and grateful for this recognition.”

Each of the 390 financial marketing entries the ABA had received was divided into 11 categories, including annual report, brand, community service, inspirational, financial education, humor, diversity, internal branding, customer retention marketing and customer acquisition marketing. Each category had a premier financial advertising campaign winner that was judged in four asset levels: under $500 million, $500 million-$1 billion, $1 billion-$5 billion and more than $5 billion. Financial institutions — banks, savings and loans, insurance companies, brokerage firms, investment firms, credit card companies — and their advertising agencies submitted entries.

Baylake Bank, employs over 350 individuals throughout northeastern and central Wisconsin and serves its communities from 28 financial centers in Brown, Door, Green Lake, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Outagamie, Waupaca, and Waushara counties and from its website at www.baylake.com.