In contrast to public offerings by bank holding companies, securities issued by banks are exempt from registration under section 3(a)2 of the Securities Act of 1933. In recent years, a growing number of banks have issued exempt securities, called bank notes, that have characteristics in common with certificates of deposit (CDs), MTNs, and short-term bonds. Most bank notes are senior, unsecured debt obligations issued by the bank. In the event of the insolvency of the issuing institution, bank notes are likely to rank equal with deposits, except in states where deposits have priority over other obligations. Like MTNs, bank notes may be offered continuously or intermittently in relatively small amounts that typically range from $5 million to $25 million. In addition, as with MTNs, most bank notes have maturities that range from one to five years. Some bank notes, which are similar to corporate bonds, are sold in large, underwritten, discrete offerings ranging from $50 million to $1 billion. However, they differ from corporate bonds in that they are not registered with the SEC. (Federal Reserve-Bulletin)