Inside this issue: Scheduled Testing of 2 ECS Action on Applications 2 for the Month DBF Outreach 5 News and topics of interest to financial institutions regulated by the Department of Banking and Finance New Credit Union Merger Application Procedure September 2018 A Georgia state-chartered credit union may, with the approval of the Department of Banking and Finance ("Department") and in accordance with such uniform rules and regulations as the Department shall make and promulgate, be merged with another federally insured Georgia statecharted credit union, a federally insured federal credit union, or a federally insured state credit union charted by another state credit union regulator. Effective October 1, 2018, the Department, modified the application process for credit union mergers, as provided for by O.C.G.A. 7-1-667, as follows: The continuing credit union shall submit to the Department one full copy of all applicable merger application forms with original signatures as filed with the National Credit Union Administration, along with a cover letter addressed to the Department which summarizes the salient facts of the proposed merger and the merger application fee. The merging credit union shall submit to the Department the results of the membership vote approving the merger with and into the continuing credit union (unless the membership vote requirement is waived by the Department). After all regulatory approvals are received and the continuing credit union submits the results of the membership vote (if required), the merger may be consummated. Within 30 days of the merger effective date, the continuing credit union shall submit the signed Notice of Credit Union Merger form. If the continuing credit union is Georgia state-chartered, the continuing credit union shall also submit post-closing consolidated financial statements for the combined institution. Upon receipt of the signed Notice of Credit Union Merger, the Department shall inform the Office of Secretary of State of the merger completion and request that the Certificate of Merger be issued (if the continuing credit union is Georgia state-chartered) or the Certificate of Dissolution be issued (if the continuing credit union is not Georgia state-chartered) as of the merger effective date. If you have any questions, please contact your credit union's Supervisory Manager. Department Guidance for Georgia State-Chartered Financial Institutions Available on Website Recently, documents that comprise the Department's Guidance for Georgia State-Chartered Banks, Bank Holding Companies, Credit Unions, and Trust Companies (Guidance) were made available on the Department's website. The documents that comprise the Guidance are addressed to Supervision Staff in order to provide consistent application in evaluating existing topics related to State Laws, Department Rules, and Department-directed practices. The Department's intent in publishing the documents is to provide greater transparency and insight to the industry providing the Department's regulatory approach on these varied topics. The Guidance provided may not necessarily be appropriate in every situation, and examiners will continue to implement a risk-focused approach requiring professional judgement based on relevant factors. The Guidance does not have force and effect of law and the Department will not take enforcement actions based solely on the Guidance. Further, the Guidance does not impose additional requirements on state-chartered financial institutions. Page 2 The specific documents that comprise the Guidance are: September 2018 Examination Frequency, Processing, and Turnaround Goals Development of Policies by Financial Institutions Assessing Liquidity in Community Financial Institutions Loan Participations Containing Last In, First Out Provisions Fidelity Bond and D&O Coverage for Financial Institutions Financial Institution Charter Conversion Investigations Pre-Opening Examination Procedures Commission on the Sale of Credit Related Insurance Voting on Own Bank or Own Bank Holding Company Stock Held in Fiduciary Capacity Low Income Credit Unions The Guidance documents can be found in Banking Memos and Guidance at https://dbf.georgia.gov/banking-memos-andguidance and Credit Union Policy Statements and Guidance at https://dbf.georgia.gov/cu-policy-statements-and-guidance. If you have any questions, please contact your financial institution's Supervisory Manager. Emergency Communications System Test on Tuesday, October 9 The Emergency Communications System (ECS) will be conducting a test of the system on Tuesday, October 9, to ensure contact information is up-to-date for all registrants. During this test, the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) we will be verifying registrants' business email addresses, business telephone numbers, and business mobile phone numbers. ECS is a free service maintained by the FRB of St. Louis that allows financial institutions to receive important communications from regulatory agencies during crises such as natural or man-made disasters, or events that dramatically affect the financial markets. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the ECS test, contact the ECS Support Center at (877) 327-5333 and/or ecs.support@stls.frb.org. Action on Applications for the Month The following is a summary of official action taken by the Department on applications by Georgia state-chartered financial institutions under Title 7, Chapter 1 of the O.C.G.A. and petitions for certificate of incorporation of financial institutions and other matters of interest during the month of September 2018: FINANCIAL INSTITUTION Southern Bank Sardis, GA 30456-0100 APPLICATIONS FOR DISSOLUTION APPROVAL DATE Pending EFFECTIVE DATE FINANCIAL INSTITUTION Members United Credit Union Albany SunTrust Bank Atlanta APPLICATIONS TO ESTABLISH A BRANCH OFFICE APPROVAL BRANCH OFFICE DATE Leesburg 04-19-2017 1150 US 19 South Leesburg, GA 31763 Lee County Ruskin 5090 N. US Highway 41 Apollo Beach, FL 33572 Hillsborough County 09-11-2018 BEGIN BUSINESS DATE 09-04-2018 Page 3 September 2018 SunTrust Bank Atlanta SunTrust Bank Atlanta SunTrust Bank Atlanta SunTrust Bank Atlanta The Commercial Bank Crawford Oconee State Bank Watkinsville Credit Union of Georgia Woodstock Hartsfield Jackson Airport 6000 N Terminal Parkway Atlanta, GA 30320 Fulton County Arbutus Plaza 1064 Maiden Choice Lane Baltimore, MD 21229 Baltimore County Rockville Town Square 100 Gibbs Street, Unit A Rockville, MD 20850 Montgomery County Sunrise 3499 N University Drive Sunrise, FL 33351 Broward County Oconee Connector 1357 Oconee Connector Watkinsville, GA 30677 Oconee County Gwinnett Financial Center 1755 North Brown Road Huntcrest I, Suite 125 Lawrenceville, GA 30043 Gwinnett County East Cobb 1020 Johnson Ferry Road Marietta, GA 30068 Cobb County 09-28-2018 09-11-2018 09-11-2018 09-11-2018 09-05-2018 07-11-2018 09-06-2018 FINANCIAL INSTITUTION SunTrust Bank Atlanta SunTrust Bank Atlanta APPLICATIONS TO CHANGE LOCATION CHANGE LOCATION OF APPROVAL DATE Apalachee Parkway From: 2727 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, FL 32301 Leon County Pending To: 3098 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, FL 32301 Leon County Pinecrest From: 11333 South Dixie Highway Miami, FL 33156 Miami-Dade County To: 7840 SW 104th Street Miami, FL 33156 Miami-Dade County Pending 09-04-2018 EFFECTIVE DATE Page 4 SunTrust Bank Atlanta SunTrust Bank Atlanta Cape Coral From: 530 East Cape Coral Parkway Cape Coral, FL 33904 Lee County To: 915 Cape Coral Parkway East Cape Coral, FL 33904 Lee County North Hills Mall From: 3620 Six Forks Rd Raleigh, NC 27609 Wake County To: 4261 The Circle at North Hills Street Suite 115 Raleigh, NC 27609 Wake County Pending 04-30-2018 September 2018 09-28-2018 PREVIOUS NAME The Citizens Bank of Forsyth County Cumming NOTICE OF CHANGE IN NAME NEW NAME The Citizens Bank of Georgia APPROVAL EFFECTIVE DATE DATE 05-31-2018 09-01-2018 PROPOSED NAME Georgia Community Bank APPLICATION FOR RESERVATION OF A NAME COUNTY APPLICANT Terrell County Mr. Michael White James-Bates-Brannan-Groover-LLP 231 Riverside Drive Macon, GA 31201 FINANCIAL INSTITUTION (SURVIVOR) Bank of Early Blakely, GA Synovus Bank Columbus, GA LGE Community Credit Union Marietta, GA FNB Bank Scottsboro, AL Renasant Bank Tupelo, MS FINANCIAL INSTITUTION MERGERS MERGED INSTITUTION One South Bank Chipley, FL Florida Community Bank, National Association Weston, FL Georgia Heritage Bank Dallas, GA Capital Bank Fort Oglethorpe, GA The Brand Banking Company Lawrenceville, GA APPROVAL EFFECTIVE DATE DATE Pending 09-25-2018 08-06-2018 09-28-2018 09-05-2018 07-24-2018 09-01-2018 Page 5 September 2018 APPLICATIONS TO ACQUIRE A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION BANK HOLDING COMPANY TO ACQUIRE Synovus Financial Corp. Columbus, GA FCB Financial Holdings, Inc. Weston, FL APPROVAL DATE 09-25-2018 DBF Outreach and Upcoming Speaking Engagements Atlanta RMA Fall Industry Conference Deputy Commissioner for Supervision Melissa Sneed will be speaking at the Atlanta Risk Management Association (RMA) Fall Industry Conference on October 18 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. GBA De Novo Bank Accelerator Webinar Series Deputy Commissioner for Supervision Melissa Sneed will be presenting in the Georgia Bankers Association's De Novo Bank Accelerator Webinar Series on October 31 under the topic Regulatory Views on De Novo Banks. The Department is the state agency that regulates and examines Georgia state-chartered banks, state-chartered credit unions, state-chartered trust companies, and bank holding companies that own Georgia state-chartered financial institutions. The Department also has responsibility for the supervision, regulation, and examination of Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Banks chartered in Georgia. In addition, the Department has regulatory and/or licensing authority over mortgage brokers, lenders and processors, mortgage loan originators, check cashers, sellers-issuers of payment instruments, money transmitters, and international banking organizations. Our Mission is to promote safe, sound, competitive financial services in Georgia through innovative, responsive regulation and supervision. Our Vision is to be a willing and able partner with our regulated entities in order to support vibrant economic growth and prosperity in Georgia. Subscribe to Receive this Publication: Notice of this publication is delivered to interested parties via e-mail. To subscribe to this publication as well as other items of interest, please visit our website at https://dbf.georgia.gov/. Department of Banking and Finance 2990 Brandywine Road, Suite 200 Atlanta, Georgia 30341-5565 Phone: (770) 986-1633 Fax: (770) 986-1654 or 1655