Two more Georgia banks were closed Friday, including one with offices in Flowery Branch and Canton.
Clarkesville-based Habersham Bank, founded in 1904 in the North Georgia mountains, was seized and sold to SCBT of Orangeburg, S.C., the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.
Citizens Bank of Effingham in Springfield, near Savannah, was acquired by Albany's HeritageBank of the South.
Six banks have failed in Georgia so far this year. A nation-leading 57 banks have failed in Georgia since mid-2008.
Regulators appear to be stepping up the pace of failures to start 2011. Georgia didn’t reach six failures in 2010 until late March.
SCBT bought the bulk of Habersham's $387.6 million in total assets and all of its $339.9 million in deposits under a loss-share deal with the FDIC. The FDIC estimated the bank’s failure will cost its insurance fund $90.3 million.
It is the second failed bank acquisition in Georgia for SCBT, which bought Community Bank & Trust of Cornelia nearly 13 months ago.
Habersham had eight branches, including offices in Canton and Flowery Branch. Offices will keep the Habersham name and reopen with normal hours beginning Saturday.
Habersham reported a loss of $6.4 million in the first nine months of 2010, after a $26.2 million loss in 2009, according to FDIC data. The bank had more than $100 million in troubled loans and foreclosed real estate when it closed. The bank suffered heavy losses on land purchase and development loans.
Walt Moeling, banking attorney with Bryan Cave in Atlanta, said Habersham’s collapse wasn’t solely about real estate. “It’s just a case of running out of steam over time,” he said.
HeritageBank assumed most of Citizens’ $214.3 million in total assets and all of its $206.5 million in total deposits in a loss-sharing arrangement. Citizens' failure is expected to cost the FDIC $59.4 million.
Citizens opened in 1998 and had four branches in southeast Georgia. They will reopen Saturday under the HeritageBank flag, the FDIC said.
Citizens lost nearly $13 million since January 2009. The bank had more than $45 million in troubled loans and foreclosed real estate when it closed.
