A bank in western Georgia pulled off a relative rarity Friday, buying a failed bank in another state.
West Point-based CharterBank acquired Milton, Fla.-based First National Bank of Florida and its eight branches, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
It is the third failed bank acquired by CharterBank since the financial collapse, and the first it has acquired out-of-state.
Georgia has seen 70 banks fail since mid-2008, more than any other state. Florida is second to Georgia with 56 failures since mid-2008.
CharterBank isn’t the only Georgia lender to buy a failed institution in Florida. Ameris Bank, based in Moultrie, bought First Bank of Jacksonville in October 2010.
Most of Georgia's failed banks have been bought by stronger in-state rivals, though more than a dozen have been acquired by out-of-state banks.
First National, based about 25 miles east of Pensacola, Fla., had $296.8 million in total assets and $280.1 million in total deposits as of the second quarter, according to the FDIC. CharterBank agreed to assume all deposits and the bulk of the failed bank’s assets, the FDIC said.
CharterBank, based about 80 miles southwest of Atlanta, had $695.8 million in deposits and 14 branches, according its fiscal year third-quarter earnings report.
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