26th Ranked Bartow County Bank and Others Fail

Regulators made up for lost time this week closing six banks, including two in both Alabama and Georgia. Both small and large banks fell under feds axe from $38 million Rosemount Bank in Minnesota to $3 billion Superior Bank of Birmingham, Alabama.

26th ranked Bartow County Bank of Cartersville, Georgia, was closed this week by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. Bartow County Bank had approximately $330.2 million in total assets and $304.1 million in total deposits. Hamilton State Bank (4090th) of Hoschton, GA has agreed to assume all deposits and nearly all of the assets of the failed bank. The agreement between the FDIC and Hamilton State Bank includes a loss-sharing transaction on $247.5 million of Bartow County Bank's assets and the FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $69.5 million.

Falling just shy of the list, 43rd ranked New Horizons Bank of East Ellijay, Georgia, was also closed today by Georgia regulators. Citizens South Bank (un-ranked) of Gastonia, North Carolina has agreed to assume all of the deposits of New Horizons Bank. New Horizons had approximately $110.7 million in total assets and $106.1 million in total deposits. The FDIC and Citizens South Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $84.7 million of New Horizons Bank's assets. The FDIC estimates costs of closing the bank at $30.9 million.

60th ranked Nexity Bank of Birmingham, Alabama, also closed today. It had approximately $793.7 million in total assets and $637.8 million in total deposits. Newly formed AloStar Bank of Commerce has agreed to assume all the deposits and has entered into a loss-share transaction on $384.2 million of Nexity Bank's assets. The FDIC estimates the costs of this closure at $175.4 million.

Birmingham, Alabama also experienced largest bank closure of the week as Superior Bank was forced to shut its doors. A newly chartered bank subsidiary of Community Bancorp LLC (CBC) called Superior Bank, N.A. was formed to assume the deposits of the former bank. Superior Bank had approximately $3.0 billion in total assets and $2.7 billion in total deposits. The FDIC and Superior Bank, N.A. entered into a loss-share transaction on $1.84 billion of Superior Bank's assets. The expected costs of Superior's failure are considerable at $259.6 million.

Superior was closed by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). Due to differences in reporting requirements for OTS banks, they are not ranked by The Bank Blog. Superior's new owner, CBC, also acquired Cadence Bank in March. That purchase included a infusion $144 million into a bank which recently ranked 303rd on our list.

66th ranked Heritage Banking Group of Carthage, Mississippi, was closed today by the Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance. As of December 31, 2010, Heritage Banking Group had approximately $224.0 million in total assets and $196.2 million in total deposits. Trustmark National Bank (4298th) of Jackson, Mississippi has assumed the deposits of the failed bank and entered into a loss-share transaction on $156.4 million of Heritage Banking Group's assets. The FDIC estimates the cost to the DIF will be $49.1 million.

The smallest bank to close this week was 156th ranked Rosemount National Bank of Rosemount, MN with approximately $37.6 million in total assets and $36.6 million in total deposits. Central Bank (1732) of Stillwater, MN has agreed to assume all deposits. The cost is estimated at relatively inexpensive $3.6 million.