Department of Banking and Finance bulletin, Apr. 30, 2003

. . . .BULLETIN. . . .BULLETIN. . . .BULLETIN. . . .BULLETIN. . . .
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

1

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

2

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

3

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
4

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
5

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.
BACK TO TOP
6