Georgia regulators close Integrity Bank, 10th bank failure

[Zenlitened]

Source: Marketwatch.com

Integrity Bank of Alpharetta, Ga., with $1.1 billion in assets and $974 million in deposits, was closed Friday by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named receiver. This marks the 10th U.S. bank failure so far this year. All deposit accounts have been transferred to Regions Bank of Birmingham, Ala. and depositors of Integrity Bank will automatically become depositors of Regions Bank for the full amount of their deposits. Regions Bank will pay a total premium of 1.012% for the failed bank's deposits and will purchase about $34.4 million of Integrity Bank's assets.


Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/georgia-regulators-close-integrity-bank/story.aspx?guid={9C2568FB-FFA6-4CBF-8218-CD914102F252}&dist=msr_1

[UpInArms]

1. wow! happened before 5 o'clock on Friday - oops!

it could still make the evening news!

(who am I kidding?)

[cal04]

2. Integrity Bank Becomes 10th U.S. Failure This Year

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afzQ6VM6cvzg&refer=home

Integrity Bank of Alpharetta, Georgia, was closed by U.S. regulators today, the 10th bank to collapse this year amid a surge in soured real-estate loans stemming from the worst housing slump since the Great Depression.

Integrity Bank, with $1.1 billion in assets and $974 million in deposits, was shuttered by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Regions Financial Corp., Alabama's biggest bank, will assume all deposits from Integrity, which was run by Integrity Bancshares Inc. The failed bank's five offices will open on Sept. 2 as branches of Regions, the FDIC said.

``Depositors will continue to be insured with Regions Bank so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance,'' the FDIC said.

Banks are being closed at the fastest pace in 14 years as financial companies report more than $505 billion in write downs and credit losses since 2007. California lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc., which had $32 billion in assets, was closed July 11 in the third-largest bank seizure, contributing to a 14 percent drop in the U.S. deposit insurance fund that had $45.2 billion at the end of the in the second quarter.

[KatyaR]

3. This is becoming a regular Friday thing.

Is this a sign of that "strong economy" we're supposed to have? :sarcasm:

[Zenlitened]

4. Hmmm... seems the FBI is interested in this "faith-based" bank...

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

...The FBI, which investigates possible financial crimes, is looking into the situation, said agency spokesman Stephen Emmett. The “FBI is working with the FDIC” on the case, but it “is not prepared to discuss Integrity Bank at this time,” he said.

The Alpharetta-based bank, which opened its doors in 2000 with a Christian-centered philosophy, is the 10th U.S. bank to fail this year and the second Georgia institution to fail in the past 12 months.

(snip)

Integrity’s employees regularly prayed before meetings or in branch lobbies with customers, while the bank gave 10 percent of its net income to charities.

“We felt if we prayed and obeyed God’s word and did what He asked, that He would help us be successful,” the bank’s founder, Steve Skow, told the Journal-Constitution in 2005.

Link:
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/08/29/integrity_bank_fails.html