PLANO, Texas — Shareholders of the $1.6 billion Viewpoint Bank,formerly Community Credit Union, will likely find more to smileabout this time of year as the bank has announced that it willrepurchase up to just over $580,000 shares of the former CU's stockat prevailing market prices over the next year.

Bank shareholders, including former CU executives and directors,benefit from such buy back programs because they reduce the numberof total shares outstanding and thereby hike the value of theremaining shares.

Gary Base, former Community CEO and now CEO of Viewpoint said,“We believe that the repurchase of our shares represents anattractive investment opportunity which will benefit the Companyand our shareholders” in a statement about the buyback program.

Analysts and academics have occasionally criticized suchprograms, particularly in thrifts, suggesting that repurchaseprogram initiated fairly quickly after a stock conversion indicatesthat the company may have been overvalued in its initialoffering.