It’s been more than a month since a Georgia bank was closed, but that changed today with the failure of First Southern National Bank of Statesboro.
From the FDIC press release:
First Southern National Bank, Statesboro, Georgia, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Heritage Bank of the South, Albany, Georgia, to assume all of the deposits of First Southern National Bank.
The sole branch of First Southern National Bank will reopen on Saturday as a branch of Heritage Bank of the South. Depositors of First Southern National Bank will automatically become depositors of Heritage Bank of the South. [. . .]
As of June 30, 2011, First Southern National Bank had approximately $164.6 million in total assets and $159.7 million in total deposits. Heritage Bank of the South will pay the FDIC a premium of 1.0 percent to assume all of the deposits of First Southern National Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Heritage Bank of the South agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets. [. . .]
The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $39.6 million. Compared to other alternatives, Heritage Bank of the South’s acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC’s DIF. First Southern National Bank is the 67th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the seventeenth in Georgia. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was High Trust Bank, Stockbridge, on July 15, 2011.
I have posted often about Georgia’s banking crisis. Perhaps eventually there will be some serious study about why we lead the nation in bank failures since 2008.