Membership in the Federal Home Loan Bank System grew by 134 institutions in 2002 and most of the new members were commercial banks that quickly took advantage of the FHLBanks’ low rate advances. According to year-end numbers reported by the FHLBank Office of Finance, the Bank System grew to 8,011 members last year. At year-end, 74 percent of the total were commercial banks, 17 percent were thrifts, 8 percent were credit unions and just