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STATE OF GEORGIA
DEPARTMENT OF BANKING AND FINANCE
2990 Brandywine Road, Suite 200 Atlanta, Georgia 30341-5565
DAVID G. SORRELL, ACTING COMMISSIONER
Phone: (770) 986-1633
Fax: (770) 986-1655
Internet Address: http://www.gadbf.org
April 30, 2003 The following is a summary of official action taken on applications by State Financial Institutions under Chapter 7-1 of the Code of Georgia and petitions for Certificate of Incorporation of Financial Institutions and other matters of interest during the month of April 2003. IN THIS ISSUE: Department Memo on Assessing Liquidity in Community Financial Institutions
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APPLICATIONS FOR NEW FINANCIAL INSTITUTION
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION Midtown Bank & Trust Company 712 West Peachtree Street Atlanta, GA 30308 Fulton County
CAPITALIZATION APPROVAL DATE
$ 10,500,000
Pending
BEGIN BUSINESS DATE
Community Bank of Georgia 692 West Parker Street Baxley, GA 31513 Appling County
$ 5,000,000
Pending
Mountain Heritage Bank US Highway 441 South and US Highway 76 East Clayton, GA 30525 Rabun County
$ 7,000,000
Pending
Freedom Bank of Georgia 3165 Maysville Road Commerce, GA 30329 Jackson County
$ 7,500,000
Pending
Mountain State Bank 6602 Highway 53 East Dawsonville, GA 30534 Dawson County
$ 10,025,169
12 -09-2002
04 -15-2003
Local Bank of Middle Georgia 532-550 North Davis Drive Warner Robins, GA 31093 Houston County
$ 6,000,000
Pending
PREVIOUS NAME Dalton Whitfield Bank
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION CONVERSIONS
CONVERTED TO FSG Bank, N.A. Dalton Whitfield County
APPROVAL DATE Pending
EFFECTIVE DATE
Fidelity National Bank
Fidelity Bank Norcross Gwinnett County
04-16-2003
APPLICATIONS FOR DISSOLUTION
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION AmTrade International Bank of Georgia Atlanta, GA 30309
APPROVAL DATE Bank is in Receivership Click here for further information
EFFECTIVE DATE
APPLICATIONS TO ESTABLISH A BRANCH OFFICE
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FINANCIAL INSTITUTION Integrity Bank Alpharetta
BRANCH OFFICE Cobb Branch Office 4345 Atlanta Road Smyrna, GA 30080 Cobb County
SunTrust Bank Atlanta
Greenspring Branch Office 2825 Smith Avenue Baltimore, MD 21209 Baltimore County
SunTrust Bank Atlanta
Braemar Safeway In -Store Branch Office 12821 Braemar Village Plaza Bristow, VA 20136 Prince William County
SunTrust Bank Atlanta
Perry Hall Square Branch Office 4310 Ebenezer Road Perry Hall, MD 21236 Baltimore County
SunTrust Bank Atlanta
St. John's Branch Office 481 Prosperity Lake Drive St. Augustine, FL 32095 St. John's County
SunTrust Bank Atlanta
The Shoppes at Eagles Landing Branch Office Eagles Landing Parkway & Country Club Drive Stockbridge, GA 30281 Henry County
SunTrust Bank Atlanta
1275 K Street Branch Office 1275 K Street, NW Washington, DC 20005
First Bank of Dalton Dalton
Cleveland Highway Branch Office 2518 Cleveland Highway, Suite 15 Dalton, GA 30721 Whitfield County
Northeast Georgia Bank Lavonia
Commerce Branch Office 30990 Highway 441 South Commerce, GA 30529 Banks County
First Bank of the South Lawrenceville
Snellville Branch Office 2168 Scenic Highway Snellville, GA 30078 Gwinnett County
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APPROVAL DATE
04-14 -2003
BEGIN BUSINESS
DATE
04-10 -2003
Pending
04-29 -2003
04-21 -2003
04-17 -2003
Pending 04-09 -2003
04-30 -2003
04-25 -2003
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION The Peachtree Bank Duluth
APPLICATIONS TO CHANGE LOCATION
From: To:
CHANGE LOCATION OF Sugar Hill Branch Office 1400 Buford Highway, Suite E-4 Sugar Hill GA 30518 Gwinnett County Lawrenceville Branch Office 185 Gwinnett Drive Lawrenceville GA 30045 Gwinnett County
APPROVAL DATE 04-09-2003
EFFECTIVE DATE
PREVIOUS NAME The Blackshear Bank Blackshear
NOTICE OF CHANGE IN NAME
NEW NAME PrimeSouth Bank
APPROVAL EFFECTIVE
DATE
DATE
04-17-2003 04-21 -2003
PROPOSED NAME 1st Georgia Banking Company
APPLICATIONS FOR RESERVATION OF A NAME
COUNTY Heard County
APPLICANT Mr. Robert J. Burnstein, CPA 8010 Roswell Road, Suite 220 Atlanta, GA 30350
Central Bank of Georgia
Schley County
Mr. John B. Kline, Principal Mauldin & Jenkins Post Office Box 724888 Atlanta, GA 31139-1888
Entertainers Bank & Trust
Fulton County
Mr. John B. Kline, Principal Mauldin & Jenkins, LLC Post Office Box 724888 Atlanta, GA 31139-1888
V.I.S.I.O.N. Credit Union
Lowndes County
Mr. Ernest J. Usher, Jr., Organizer Usher Business Enterprises, Inc. Post Office Box 188 Lakeland, GA 31635
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION MERGERS
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION (SURVIVOR)
First-Citizens Bank and Trust Company of South Carolina Columbia, SC
MERGED INSTITUTION First Bank and Trust Carnesville
APPROVAL DATE
01 -29-2003
EFFECTIVE DATE
04-01 -2003
First-Citizens Bank and Trust Company of South Carolina Columbia, SC
The Bank of Toccoa Toccoa
01 -29-2003 04-01 -2003
Main Street Bank Covington
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First Colony Bank Alpharetta
Pending
APPLICATIONS TO BECOME A BANK HOLDING COMPANY AND/OR TO ACQUIRE VOTING STOCK OF A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION
BANK HOLDING COMPANY Piedmont Bancshares, Inc. Atlanta, GA
FORMATIONS ONLY
TO ACQUIRE Piedmont Bank of Georgia Atlanta, GA
APPROVAL DATE Pending
Central Georgia Banking Company Cochran, GA
State Bank of Cochran Cochran, GA
Pending
Community Banks of Georgia, Inc. Jasper, GA
Community Bank of Pickens County Jasper, GA
American Trust Bancorp Roswell, GA
American Trust Bank (In Organization) Roswell, GA
CITY Decatur Smyrna Norcross Macon Smyrna Smyrna Norcross Macon Lawrenceville Byron Moultrie
CHECK CASHER LICENSES ISSUED
APPLICANT NAME
TRADE NAME
Albert Um Enterprises, Inc.
Ken & Chris Package
CB Solutions, Inc. Dineromax Hari Om, Inc. Induk Enterprises, Inc. Kim, Yuun
RTS Services Dineromax Quik Shop NBI Check Cashing Cash Check Plus
Moneymax, Inc.
Moneymax
Patel, Rajnikant Tasta, Inc.
Fort Hawkins Package Store Ted's Check Cashing
UMIYA WORLD, LLC
B's Bottle Shoppe
Varahi Corporation
R&R Quick Mart
04-17-2003 Pending
**** NOTICES ****
Department Memo on Assessing Liquidity in Community Financial Institutions
The Department has issued a memo to its examiners regarding assessing liquidity in community financial institutions. The memo is available in its entirety on the Department's website at: http://www.ganet.org/dbf/pdfdoc/LiquidityMemo.pdf
The Department has noted over the past several years that there has been a steady and significant decline in the levels of core liquidity being maintained by community banks. There are a number of factors contributing to this decline, the most significant of which are the intense margin pressures that have been brought to bear against banks and material changes in the sources of bank funding, with greater amounts of short and medium-term borrowing being used to fund bank operations. These trends have combined to push liquidity to levels that are far below historical levels of liquidity.
For the most part, financial institutions have been able to reduce liquidity levels without experiencing undue safety and soundness problems but the question remains: what level of minimum core liquidity needs to be maintained in a bank to insure that liquidity does not present a safety and soundness concern and what should be the policy of the Department is dealing with banks that drop below such a level?
Historically, the approach of the Department has been to establish a fixed threshold and state that any bank that fell below this threshold was to be criticized and placed on a program of liquidity enhancement. Such an approach is not realistic in the current liquidity environment where a financial institution may have ready access to secondary sources of liquidity, may have cyclical liquidity demands that increase or decrease at different times of the year and which may have improved monitoring and management procedures to manage their liquidity at
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lower levels. In spite of such mitigating issues, the Department has observed that there are certain levels of core liquidity, below which a bank may begin to experience problems in meeting its day to day liquidity requirements including cash letter requirements, deposit withdrawals and lending requests. It has been the observation of the Department that when core liquidity drops below 10%, such problems may become more prevalent, if secondary sources of liquidity are not available to provide liquidity support. While this level of liquidity is not considered to be a "bright-line" minimum, bank management has a rebutable presumption to overcome regarding liquidity adequacy when core liquidity drops below this level. Go to the link on the Department's website noted above to read the memo in its entirety.
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