A small Doraville bank that catered largely to the region’s Asian business community became the third bank to fail in Georgia so far this year, when regulators seized and sold the bank to a fellow Doraville institution.
Global Commerce Bank was acquired by Metro City Bank, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Global Commerce branches will reopen beginning Saturday under the Metro City flag, the FDIC said.
Global Commerce is the 77th bank failure in Georgia since mid-2008, the most of any state in that time.
Metro City will assume all of Global Commerce’s $116.8 million in total deposits, and slightly more than half of the failed bank's $143.7 million in assets. The FDIC estimates Global Commerce’s failure will result in a $17.9 million loss to its Deposit Insurance Fund, the backstop that insures deposit accounts up to $250,000 at banks nationwide.
Global Commerce was started in 1995. A large portion of the bank’s business was in commercial real estate-backed loans. Global Commerce went on a growth spurt starting in 2006, which peaked in 2009, in the depths of the recession. But losses quickly mounted.
Global Commerce lost nearly $16 million over the past two years.
Metro City, the acquiring bank, was founded in 2006. It also has a major focus on the region’s Asian business community and is a major provider of Small Business Administration-backed loans in metro Atlanta.
About the Author
