**EXHIBIT 31.1**

 

**CERTIFICATEOF CHIEF EXECUTIVE****OFFICER(Pursuant to Section 302 Certification of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)**

 

I,Harold G. Giomi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, certify that:

 

1.     I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Qof The Bank Holdings for the quarter ended March 31, 2009;

 

2.     Based on my knowledge, this quarterly reportdoes not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state amaterial fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstancesunder which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to theperiods covered by this quarterly report;

 

3.     Based on my knowledge, the financialstatements, and other financial information included in this quarterly report,fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results ofoperations and cash flows of the Registrant as of, and for, the periodspresented in this quarterly report;

 

4.     The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) andI are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls andprocedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e))and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and15d — 15(f) for the registrant and have:

 

(a)   Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused suchdisclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, toensure that material information relating to the registrant, including itsconsolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities,particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

 

(b)   Designed such internal control over financialreporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to bedesigned under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding thereliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statementsfor external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accountingprinciples;

 

(c)   Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’sdisclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusionsabout the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of theend of the periods covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

 

(d)   Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal controlover financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recentfiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of annualreport) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materiallyaffect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

 

5.     The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) andI have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control overfinancial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee ofthe registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalentfunctions):

 

(a)   All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design oroperation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonablylikely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process,summarize and report financial information; and

 

(b)   Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or otheremployees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control overfinancial reporting.

 
| Date:  | May 20,  2009 |   |                                         |   | /s/  Harold G. Giomi |   |
|--------|--------------------|--------|----------------------------------------------|--------|----------------------|--------|
|   |               |   | THE  BANK HOLDINGS                           |
|   |               |   | Harold  G. Giomi                             |
|   |               |   | Chairman &  Chief Executive Officer |

 

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