Georgia

WASHINGTON — Federal and state regulators shut seven banks late Friday, pushing the failure total this year to 103. Though the pace of failures briefly slowed earlier this month, it appears to be picking up momentum again, as Friday's failures followed six last week.

Atlantic Coast Federal Corp.'s credit quality is on the mend as the Waycross, Ga., company approaches its second-step conversion.

The Jasper, Ga., bank holding company said Monday that it plans to file its delisting with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It was notified in April that it did not meet the minimum requirements of Nasdaq's listing rule.

Fidelity Southern Corp. in Atlanta said Tuesday that it plans to sell up to $57.5 million in new shares to raise capital partly for growth.

Charter Financial Corp. of West Point, Ga., has opted for a road less traveled after shareholders balked at its plan to convert to a fully public company.

Despite aggressive efforts to stay alive, Midwest Bank and Trust was closed late Friday by Illinois regulators. The failure of the Chicago-area bank came on a night when the FDIC ...

Cherokee Banking Co. of Canton, Ga., has reached an agreement with the Federal Reserve stipulating that it cannot declare dividends without prior approval from the central bank.

MidSouth Community Federal Credit Union in Macon, Ga., is the latest credit union to take advantage of the growing inventory of bank branches on the market, agreeing to acquire two branches of the failed Security Bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

These are not easy days for community banks in Georgia and Florida, but signs of hope are springing. This week in Georgia Ameris Bancorp in Moultrie announced plans to raise nearly $74 million in fresh capital via a public offering, and Gwinnett Community Bank said it raised $5 million from members of its community.

Heritage Financial Group in Albany, Ga., is revising its fourth quarter and 2009 results after selling off its largest nonperforming loan.

United Community Banks Inc. has agreed to sell $100 million of nonperforming loans to an asset manager in order to rid illiquid assets and create capital as the bank continues to suffer from a credit crunch.

Citizens Bancshares Corp. of Atlanta announced that its earnings declined 30% in 2009. The $388 million-asset company said Monday that its earnings dipped to $715,000, from $1 million in 2008.

Atlantic Coast Federal Corp. has recruited veteran banker Jay S. Sidhu to its board.

WASHINGTON — Four more banks failed Friday night totaling $1.2 billion in assets and costing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. an estimated $320 million.

Since calling off a round of capital-raising last fall, Citizens South Banking Corp. has adopted a more opportunistic approach to raising funds.

Regulators closed three banks Friday, including the largest bank subsidiary of bankrupt Advanta Corp., to bring the year's failure toll to 33.

PAB Bankshares Inc. in Georgia says it plans to raise $85 million through a common stock offering.

The parent company of HeritageBank of the South in Albany, Ga., announced a deal Thursday to acquire five branches from the Park Avenue Bank, which has struggled with credit-quality problems.

WASHINGTON — For the second Friday in a row, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. relied on new-bank capital to find homes for the operations of failed institutions.

Loan sales helped a growing number of community banks push some of their problems out the door in the fourth quarter.