Based on deposits as of June 30, 2006,2007, Horizon was the largest of the 11 bank and thrift institutions in LaPorte County with a 39.12%35.74% market share and the fifth largest of the 1516 such institutions in Porter County with a 7.50%an 8.18% market share. In Berrien County, Michigan, Horizon was the fourth largest of the 10 bank and thrift institutions with a 7.38%an 8.09% market share. In 2005, Horizon opened new offices in St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties, Indiana. Horizon’s market share of deposits was less than 1.00% in each of these counties. (Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits Market Share Reports, available at www.fdic.gov).

Horizon is registered as a bank holding company and is subject to the supervision of, and regulation by, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Federal Reserve”) under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (“BHC Act”). The Federal Reserve has issued regulations under the BHC Act requiring a bank holding company to serve as a source of financial and managerial strength to its subsidiary banks. It is the policy of the Federal Reserve that, pursuant to this requirement, a bank holding company should stand ready to use its resources to provide adequate capital funds to its subsidiary banks during periods of financial stress or adversity.

The BHC Act requires the prior approval of the Federal Reserve to acquire more than a 5% voting interest of any bank or bank holding company. Additionally, the BHC Act restricts Horizon’s nonbanking activities to those, which are determined by the Federal Reserve to be closely related to banking and a proper incident thereto.

Under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 (the “FDICIA”), a bank holding company is required to guarantee the compliance of any insured depository institution subsidiary that may become “undercapitalized” (as defined in FDICIA) with the terms of any capital restoration plan filed by such subsidiary with its appropriate federal bank regulatory agency.

Bank holding companies are required to comply with the Federal Reserve’s risk-based capital guidelines. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) have adopted risk-based capital ratio guidelines to which depository institutions under their respective supervision are subject. The guidelines establish a systematic analytical framework that makes regulatory capital requirements more sensitive to differences in risk profiles among banking organizations. Risk-based capital ratios are determined by allocating assets and specified off-balance sheet commitments to four risk weighted categories, with higher levels of capital being required for the categories perceived as representing greater risk. As a condition of approval for the Alliance acquisition, the OCC required the Bank to maintain regulatory capital ratios at 100 basis points above the well capitalized minimums. The Bank exceeded the risk-based capital requirements of the FDIC and OCC as of December 31, 2006. For Horizon’s regulatory capital ratios and regulatory requirements as of December 31, 2006,2007, see the information in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation in Item 7 below, which is incorporated herein by reference.

The Bank is (i) subject to the provisions of the National Bank Act; (ii) supervised, regulated, and examined by the OCC; and (iii) subject to the rules and regulations of the OCC, Federal Reserve, and the FDIC.

Pursuant to the Reform Act, the FDIC is authorized to set the reserve ratio for the DIF annually at between 1.15% and 1.5% of estimated insured deposits and the FDIC has been given discretion to set assessment rates according to risk regardless of the level of the fund reserve ratio. On November 2, 2006, the FDIC adopted final regulations that set the designated reserve ratio for the DIF at 1.25% beginning January 1, 2007.

Insured depository institutions that were in existence on December 31, 1996, and paid assessments prior to that date (or their successors) are entitled to a one-time credit against future assessments based on their past contributions to the BIF or SAIF. In 2006, the Bank received a one-time credit of $458,184$457,534 against future assessments. Of the initial credit, $143,623 remained unused at December 31, 2007.

Also on November 2, 2006, the FDIC adopted final regulations that establish a new risk-based premium system. Under the new system, the FDIC will evaluate each institution’s risk based on three primary sources of information: supervisory ratings for all insured institutions, financial ratios for most institutions, and long-term debt issuer ratings for large institutions that have such ratings. An institution’s assessments will be based on the insured institution’s ranking in one of four risk categories. Effective January 1, 2007, well-capitalized institutions with the CAMELS ratings of 1 or 2 are grouped in Risk Category I and will be assessed for deposit insurance at an annual rate of between five and seven cents for every $100 of domestic deposits. Institutions in Risk Categories II, III and IV will be assessed at annual rates of 10, 28 and 43 cents, respectively. An increase in assessments could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s earnings.

FDIC-insured institutions remain subject to the requirement to pay assessments to the FDIC to fund interest payments on bonds issued by the Financing Corporation (“FICO”), an agency of the Federal government established to recapitalize the predecessor to the SAIF. These assessments will continue until the FICO bonds mature in 2017. For the quarter ended December 31, 2006,2007, the FICO assessment rate was equal to 1.241.14 cents for each $100 in domestic deposits maintained at an institution.

Both federal and state law extensively regulates various aspects of the banking business, such as reserve requirements, truth-in-lending and truth-in-savings disclosures, equal credit opportunity, fair credit reporting, trading in securities and other aspects of banking operations. Branching by the Bank is subject to the jurisdiction and requires notice to or the prior approval of the OCC.

Horizon and the Bank are subject to the Federal Reserve Act, which restricts financial transactions between banks and affiliated companies. The statute limits credit transactions between banks, affiliated companies and its executive officers and its affiliates. The statute prescribes terms and conditions for bank affiliate transactions deemed to be consistent with safe and sound banking practices, and restricts the types of collateral security permitted in connection with a bank’s extension of credit to an affiliate.

The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (the “PATRIOT Act”) is intended to strengthen the ability of U.S. Law Enforcement to combat terrorism on a variety of fronts. The PATRIOT Act contains sweeping anti-money laundering and financial transparency laws and requires financial institutions to implement additional policies and procedures with respect to, or additional measures designed to address, any or all the following matters, among others: money laundering, suspicious activities and currency transaction reporting, and currency crimes. Many of the provisions in the PATRIOT Act were to have expired December 31, 2005, but the U.S. Congress authorized renewals that extended the provisions until March 10, 2006. In early March 2006, the U.S. Congress approved the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (the “Reauthorization Act”) and the USA PATRIOT Act Additional Reauthorizing Amendments Act of 2006 (the “PATRIOT Act Amendments”), and they were signed into law by President Bush on March 9, 2006. The Reauthorization Act makes permanent all but two of the provisions that had been set to expire and provides that the remaining two provisions, which relate to surveillance and the production of business records under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, will expire in three years. The PATRIOT Act Amendments include provisions allowing recipients of certain subpoenas to obtain judicial review of nondisclosure orders and clarifying the use of certain subpoenas to obtain information from libraries. Horizon does not anticipate that these changes will materially affect its operations.

On July 30, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act represents a comprehensive revision of laws affecting corporate governance, accounting obligations and corporate reporting. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is applicable to all companies with equity or debt securities registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “1934 Act”). In particular, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act establishes: (i) new requirements for audit committees, including independence, expertise and responsibilities; (ii) additional responsibilities regarding financial statements for the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the reporting company; (iii) new standards for auditors and regulation of audits; (iv) increased disclosure and reporting obligations for the reporting company and their directors and executive officers; and (v) new and increased civil and criminal penalties for violation of the securities laws. Management expects that significant additional efforts and expense will continue to be required to comply with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (the “FACT Act”) amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act and made permanent certain federal preemptions that form the basis for a national credit reporting system. The FACT Act was also intended to (i) address identity theft, (ii) increase access to credit information, (iii) enhance the accuracy of credit reporting, (iv) facilitate the opt-out by consumers from certain marketing solicitations, (v) protect medical information, and (vi) promote financial literacy. The statute applies to credit reporting agencies (commonly referred to as “credit bureaus”), financial institutions, other users of credit reports and those who furnish information to credit bureaus.

We have also funded our growth with low-cost consumer deposits, and our ability to sustain our growth will depend in part on our continued success in attracting such deposits or finding other sources of low-cost funds.

Another factor in maintaining our history of record earnings will be our ability to expand our scope of available financial services to our customers in an increasingly competitive environment. In addition to other banks, our competitors include credit unions, securities dealers, brokers, mortgage bankers, investment advisors, and finance and insurance companies. Competition is intense in most of our markets. We compete on price and service with our competitors. Competition could intensify in the future as a result of industry consolidation, the increasing availability of products and services from nonbanks,non-banks, greater technological developments in the industry, and banking reform.

We have a large percentage of commercial and consumer loans. Commercial loans generally have greater credit risk than residential mortgage loans because repayment of these loans often depends on the successful business operations of the borrowers. These loans also typically have much larger loan balances than residential mortgage loans. Consumer loans generally involve greater risk than residential mortgage loans because they are unsecured or secured by assets that depreciate in value. Although we undertake a variety of underwriting, monitoring and reserving protections with respect to these types of loans, there can be no guarantee that we will not suffer unexpected losses.

Our financial condition and results of operations are significantly affected by changes in market interest rates. Our results of operations depend substantially on our net interest income, which is the difference between the interest income that we earn on our interest-earning assets and the interest expense that we pay on our interest-bearing liabilities. Our profitability depends on our ability to manage our assets and liabilities during periods of changing market interest rates. If rates increase rapidly as a result of an improving economy, we may have to increase the rates paid on our deposits and borrowed funds more quickly than loans and investments reprice, resulting in a negative impact on interest spreads and net interest income. The impact of rising rates could be compounded if deposit customers move funds from savings accounts to higher rate certificate of deposit accounts. Conversely, should market interest rates fall below current levels, our net interest margin could also be negatively affected, as competitive pressures could keep us from further reducing rates on our deposits, and prepayments and curtailments on assets may continue. Such movements may cause a decrease in our interest rate spread and net interest margin, and therefore, decrease our profitability.

We also are subject to reinvestment risk associated with changes in interest rates. Changes in interest rates may affect the average life of loans and mortgage-related securities. Increases in interest rates may decrease loan demand and/or may make it more difficult for borrowers to repay adjustable rate loans. Decreases in interest rates often result in increased prepayments of loans and mortgage-related securities, as borrowers refinance their loans to reduce borrowing costs. Under these circumstances, we are subject to reinvestment risk to the extent that we are unable to reinvest the cash received from such prepayments in loans or other investments that have interest rates that are comparable to the interest rates on existing loans and securities.

Although our common stock has been listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market since December 2001 and since February 1, 2007, has been listed on NASDAQ Global Market, our common stock is thinly traded. Average daily trading volume during 20062007 was only 3,4761,689 shares. The prices of thinly traded stocks, such as ours, are typically more volatile than stocks traded in a large, active public market and can be more easily impacted by sales or purchases of large blocks of stock. Thinly traded stocks are also less liquid, and because of the low volume of trades, you may be unable to sell your shares when you desire to do so.

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make significant estimates that affect the financial statements. One of our most critical estimates is the level of the allowance for loan losses. Due to the inherent nature of these estimates, we cannot provide absolute assurance that we will not have to increase the allowance for loan losses and/or sustain loan losses that are significantly higher than the provided allowance.

We buy loans originated by mortgage bankers and automobile dealers. Because we must rely on the mortgage bankers and automobile dealers in making and documenting these loans, there is an increased risk of fraud to us on the part of the third-party originators and the underlying borrowers. In order to guard against this increased risk, we perform investigations on the loan originators with whom we do business, with, and we review the loan files and loan documents we purchase to attempt to detect any irregularities or legal noncompliance. However, there is no guarantee that our procedures will detect all cases of fraud or legal noncompliance.

Our operations are subject to extensive regulation by federal agencies. See “Supervision and Regulation” in the description of our Business in Item 1 above for detailed information on the laws and regulations to which we are subject. Changes in applicable laws, regulations or regulator policies could materially affect our business. The likelihood of any major changes in the future and their effects are impossible to determine.

In the normal course of business, we process large volumes of transactions. If systems of internal control should fail to work as expected, if systems are used in an unauthorized manner, or if employees subvert the system of internal controls, significant losses could result.

Horizon owns all of the facilities, except for the South Bend and Merrillville, Indiana offices, which are leased from third parties.

No material pending legal proceedings, other than ordinary routine litigation incidental to the business to which Horizon or any of its subsidiaries is a party or of which any of their property is subject.