Georgia bank pays off TARP

United Community Banks, Inc. has redeemed all of its preferred stock issued as part of the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The $180 million TARP redemption, and the end of informal memorandums of understanding with regulators that limited what the third-largest Georgia-based bank could do, will have “substantial impact” on UCBI’s performance, president and CEO Jimmy Tallent said in a Thursday statement.

UCBI made $273.1 million in 2013, a 707 percent increase from 2012. In the fourth quarter, the $15.9 million UCBI brought in was up 202 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

The bank sold off bad loans and foreclosed properties more quickly, and said it made 6 percent more loans in 2013 on an annualized basis.

“The coming year will not be without challenges, but we look forward with confidence to the opportunities ahead,” Tallent said in a statement.

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