WASHINGTON — Two failures in Georgia and another in Arizona late Friday cost the Deposit Insurance Fund about $204 million.
The $654 million-asset Darby Bank & Trust Co. in Vidalia, and the $143 million-asset Tifton Banking Co. in Tifton, were the 17th and 18th banks to close in the Peach State this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sold both to Ameris Bank in Moultrie, Ga.
Regulators later closed the $204 million-asset Copper Star Bank in Scottsdale, Ariz. and sold it to Stearns Bank in St. Cloud, Minn., bringing the nation's failure total this year to 146.
Together, the failures of Darby and Tifton were estimated to cost the FDIC about $160 million. Ameris agreed to assume all of Darby's $588 million in deposits and Tifton's $142 million in deposits. The buyer will also acquire essentially all of their assets, sharing losses on $560 million.
Meanwhile, Stearns paid a 1% premium to assume all of Copper Star's $190 million in deposits, and agreed to buy roughly all of its assets. The acquirer and the FDIC agreed to share losses on $165.2 million of those assets. The resolution was estimated to cost about $43 million.
