text: The net interest margin, which measures tax-equivalent net interest income as a percentage of average earning 
  assets, is illustrated below in Table 2 for the years 2000 through 2002. As the prime rate declined from 9.50% to 
  4.75% in 2001, our earning assets re-priced in advance of interest bearing deposits, which resulted in a lower net 
  interest margin. As we re-priced our interest bearing deposits in 2002, the net interest margin improved to 4.82% as 
  compared to 4.52% for 2001. 