Ameris Acquires Two Failed Banks, Two Others Fail

A frequent acquirer of closed banks, Ameris Bank took over two Georgia-based banks this week. The first was High Trust Bank of Stockbridge, Georgia. High Trust was the second riskiest firm on our list. The other was, just off the list, 44th ranked One Georgia Bank based in Atlanta. These are the 7th and 8th failed banks acquired by Ameris, with the prior two banks having been acquired in November of last year. Perhaps as a result of these ongoing acquisitions, Ameris itself is not without its own financial soundness issues. It ranks among the top 7% in terms of risk at 484th on our list.

With these acquisitions, $2.9 billion Ameris Bank by assets has grown considerably. Both failed banks were of approximately the same size and represented a total of about $380 million in assets and $350 million in deposits as of their most recent federal filings. Ameris entered into a loan-loss sharing transaction with the FDIC on $311.1 million worth of total assets and the overall cost to the FDIC for these shutdowns is estimated at $110 million.

73rd ranked Summit Bank of Prescott, Arizona was also acquired today by nearby Yuma-based The Foothills Bank (4508th). Summit Bank had approximately $72.0 million in total assets and $66.4 million in total deposits. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $11.3 million.

76th ranked, First Peoples Bank of Port Saint Lucie, Florida, was also closed today. The assets were sold to Premier American Bank, National Association (5257th) of Miami, Florida. This was the 5th acquisition for the bank which began as the result of an earlier failure. the roughly $2.5 billion bank by assets added approximately $228.3 million more by acquiring First Peoples Bank. There was no loan-loss sharing agreement and the FDIC estimates the overall cost to be a scant $7.4 million.