<SEC-DOCUMENT>0001437749-24-028256.txt : 20241007
<SEC-HEADER>0001437749-24-028256.hdr.sgml : 20241007
<ACCEPTANCE-DATETIME>20240903163300
<PRIVATE-TO-PUBLIC>
ACCESSION NUMBER:		0001437749-24-028256
CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE:	CORRESP
PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT:		1
FILED AS OF DATE:		20240903

FILER:

	COMPANY DATA:	
		COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:			AMES NATIONAL CORP
		CENTRAL INDEX KEY:			0001132651
		STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION:	NATIONAL COMMERCIAL BANKS [6021]
		ORGANIZATION NAME:           	02 Finance
		IRS NUMBER:				421039071
		STATE OF INCORPORATION:			X1
		FISCAL YEAR END:			1231

	FILING VALUES:
		FORM TYPE:		CORRESP

	BUSINESS ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		PO BOX 846
		CITY:			AMES
		STATE:			IA
		ZIP:			50010
		BUSINESS PHONE:		5152326251

	MAIL ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		PO BOX 846
		CITY:			AMES
		STATE:			IA
		ZIP:			50010
</SEC-HEADER>
<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>CORRESP
<SEQUENCE>1
<FILENAME>filename1.htm
<TEXT>
<html><head>
	<title>atlo20240830_corresp.htm</title>

	<!-- Generated by ThunderDome Portal - 8/30/2024 4:36:39 PM --><meta charset="utf-8"><meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">
</head>
<body style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; padding: 0in 0.1in; cursor: auto;">
<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;text-indent:9pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;text-align:center;margin:0pt;"><b>AMES NATIONAL CORPORATION</b></p>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 13pt;text-indent:-13pt;">September 3, 2024</p>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;"><b><u>VIA EDGAR</u></b></p>

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 13pt;text-indent:-13pt;">Office of Finance</p>

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 13pt;text-indent:-13pt;">Division of Corporation Finance</p>

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 13pt;text-indent:-13pt;">United States Securities and Exchange Commission</p>

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 13pt;text-indent:-13pt;">Washington, D.C. 20549</p>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%; text-indent: 0px;">

		<tr style="vertical-align: top;">
			<td style="width: 36pt;">
			<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;font-size: 10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;"><b>Re:</b></p>
			</td>
			<td style="width: auto;">
			<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;font-size: 10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;"><b>Ames National Corporation</b></p>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr style="vertical-align: top;">
			<td style="width: 36pt;">&nbsp;</td>
			<td style="width: auto;">
			<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;font-size: 10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;"><b>Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2023</b></p>

			<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;font-size: 10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;"><b>File No. 000-32637</b></p>
			</td>
		</tr>

</table>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 13pt;text-indent:-13pt;">Dear Sir or Madam:</p>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;text-align:justify;margin:0pt;text-indent:25pt;">Ames National Corporation (the &#8220;Company&#8221;) is providing the following response to the comment letter dated August 23, 2024 from the staff (the &#8220;<u>Staff</u>&#8221;) of the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission with respect to the above-referenced filing.</p>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;text-align:justify;margin:0pt;text-indent:25pt;">To assist with your review, we have repeated the text of the Staff's comment in italic type, followed by the Company&#8217;s response.</p>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 10pt; font-variant: normal; margin: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><u>Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2023</u></p>

<p style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 10pt; font-variant: normal; margin: 0pt; text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 10pt; font-variant: normal; margin: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><u>The commercial real estate loan portfolio is a significant part of the Company</u><u>&#8217;</u><u>s business and subject to the risk of fluctuating</u><u>&#8230;</u><u>, page 17</u></p>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:100%;font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;">

		<tr>
			<td style="width:18pt;">&nbsp;</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:top;width:18pt;">
			<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;"><i>1.</i></p>
			</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:top;">
			<p style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 10pt; font-variant: normal; margin: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><i>We note your disclosure on page 17 that the market value of real estate securing your commercial real estate loans can fluctuate significantly in a short period of time as a result of market conditions</i>&#8230;<i>and that adverse developments affecting real estate values in one or more of your markets could increase the credit risk associated with your loan portfolio. Please revise your future periodic filings to describe the specific details of any risk management policies, procedures or other actions undertaken by management in response to the current multi-family and commercial real estate environment. </i></p>
			</td>
		</tr>

</table>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%; text-indent: 0px;">

		<tr style="vertical-align: top;">
			<td style="width: 72pt;">
			<p style="margin: 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Response:</b></p>
			</td>
			<td style="width: auto;">
			<p style="margin: 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Company acknowledges the Staff&#8217;s comment and will revise its future filings to enhance its disclosure to more specifically describe the Company&#8217;s risk management policies, procedures, and other actions undertaken by its management in response to the current multi-family and commercial real estate environment.</p>
			</td>
		</tr>

</table>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<div class="PGBK" style="width: 100%; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt">
<div class="PGNUM" style="text-align: center; width: 100%">&nbsp;</div>

<hr style="PAGE-BREAK-AFTER: always; border: none; width: 100%; height: 2px; color: #000000; background-color: #000000">
<div class="PGHDR" style="text-align: left; width: 100%">&nbsp;</div>
</div>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;"><u>Maturities and Sensitivities of Loans to Changes in Interest Rates as of December 31, 2023, page 38</u></p>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:100%;font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;">

		<tr>
			<td style="width:18pt;">&nbsp;</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:top;width:18pt;">
			<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;"><i>2.</i></p>
			</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:top;">
			<p style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 10pt; font-variant: normal; margin: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><i>We note that, based on your contractual maturities tables as presented on page 38, the combination of your commercial real estate and multi-family loan portfolios comprised approximately 42.9% of total gross loans as of December 31, 2023. We further note your disclosure on page 69 that multi-family and commercial real estate lending typically involves higher loan principal amounts and that the repayment of these loans may be subject to adverse conditions in the real estate market or the economy. Please revise your future periodic filings to further disaggregate the composition of these loan portfolios to disclose and quantify material geographic and industry concentrations (e.g., office, retail and hotel), as well as owner-occupied/non-owner-occupied, current weighted average and/or range of loan-to-value ratios and occupancy rates, if available, to enhance and investor</i>&#8217;<i>s understanding of the credit risk inherent in these loan categories.</i></p>
			</td>
		</tr>

</table>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%; text-indent: 0px;">

		<tr style="vertical-align: top;">
			<td style="width: 72pt;">
			<p style="margin: 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Response:</b></p>
			</td>
			<td style="width: auto;">
			<p style="margin: 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Company acknowledges the Staff&#8217;s comment and will revise its future filings to disaggregate the composition of the Company&#8217;s multi-family and commercial real estate loan portfolios to more clearly disclose and quantify industry concentrations (e.g. office, retail and hotel) and owner-occupied/non-owner-occupied to the extent the Company believes they are material to an investor&#8217;s understanding of credit risk in these loan categories.</p>
			</td>
		</tr>

</table>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;text-align:justify;margin:0pt;text-indent:25pt;">Please contact me at (515) 620-5918 with any questions or comments regarding this correspondence.</p>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="text-indent: 0; width: 100%;font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">

		<tr>
			<td valign="top" width="50%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td colspan="2" valign="top" width="38%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">Sincerely,</p>

			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">&nbsp;</p>

			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><b>AMES NATIONAL CORPORATION</b><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="12%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td valign="top" width="50%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="3%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="35%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="12%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td valign="top" width="50%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="3%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td align="left" nowrap="nowrap" valign="bottom" width="35%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="12%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td align="left" style="text-align: left;" valign="top" width="50%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td style="text-align: left" valign="top" width="3%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">By: </font></p>
			</td>
			<td align="left" nowrap="nowrap" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" valign="top" width="35%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">/s/&nbsp;</font>Justin Clausen</p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="12%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td valign="top" width="50%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="3%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">Name:<font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="35%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">Justin Clausen<font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="12%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td valign="top" width="50%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="3%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">Title:<font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="35%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">Chief Financial Officer<font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
			<td valign="top" width="12%">
			<p style="margin: 0px 0pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;"><font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 10pt">&nbsp;</font></p>
			</td>
		</tr>

</table>

<p style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; margin: 0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%; text-indent: 0px;">

		<tr style="vertical-align: top;">
			<td style="width: 36pt;">
			<p style="margin: 0pt; text-align: left; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 10pt;">cc:</p>
			</td>
			<td style="width: auto;">
			<p style="margin: 0pt; text-align: left; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 10pt;">John Nelson, Ames National Corporation</p>
			</td>
		</tr>

</table>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%; text-indent: 0px;">

		<tr style="vertical-align: top;">
			<td style="width: 36pt;">&nbsp;</td>
			<td style="width: auto;">
			<p style="margin: 0pt; text-align: left; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mark Dickinson, Nyemaster Goode, P.C.</p>
			</td>
		</tr>

</table>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:10pt;font-variant:normal;margin:0pt;">&nbsp;</p>

<div class="LAST-PAGE-BREAK">
<div class="PGFTR">
<div class="hf-row">
<div class="hf-cell PGNUM">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>


</body></html>
</TEXT>
</DOCUMENT>
</SEC-DOCUMENT>
