One Georgia Bank, Two California Banks Fail

One Georgia bank and two California banks failed on Friday, marking the seventh, eighth and ninth banks to fail in the U.S.  so far in 2009, at a total cost of around $452 million to the deposit-insurance fund, as the financial crisis continues to take its toll.

Georgia's FirstBank Financial Services and California's Alliance Bank and County Bank in Merced, Calif., were closed down by the FDIC and state regulators.

FirstBank Financial Services of McDonough, Ga., failed, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC] has arranged for a merger between FirstBank and Regions Bank (RF) of Birmingham, Ala.

Regions Bank will assume all of FirstBank's deposits, and all four of FirstBank's offices will reopen as branches of Regions.
The bank was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, and the FDIC was appointed receiver. 

The failed bank held approximately $337 million in total assets and held $279 million in deposits, as of Dec. 31.
Regions Bank has agreed to purchase nearly $17 million and the FDIC will retain the rest of the banks assets to be sold at a later time. 

FDIC estimates the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $111 million and that the merger of the two banks was the "least costly" resolution.

Customers who have questions about FirstBank Financial can call the FDIC toll free at 1-800-823-3215.

Alliance Bank of Culver City, Calif., failed and California Bank & Trust of San Diego was named receiver by the FDIC and will assume all deposits As of Dec. 31, Alliance Bank had assets of around $1.14 billion and deposits of $951 million.

Also, California Bank & Trust agreed to purchase approximately $1.12 billion in assets at a discount of $9.9 million. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $206.0 million.

Customers who have questions about Alliance Bank can call the FDIC toll free at 1-800-523-8275.

County Bank, which is based in Merced, Calif., failed -- and its assets will be taken over by Westamerica Bank of San Rafael, Calif. Westamerica agreed to assume all of County Bank's assets and deposits.

As of Feb. 2, County Bank had total assets of approximately $1.7 billion and total deposits of $1.3 billion. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $135 million.

Customers who have questions about the County Bank transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-591-2820.