Georgia

With nonperforming assets declining and two consecutive profitable quarters under its belt, the Atlanta company is planning for a year of black ink.

A new round of watchdog reports says the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. could have been tougher in regulating three community banks that later closed.

The $1.2 billion-asset company said Tuesday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it exchanged $1.1 million of fixed-rate subordinated notes for 2.2 million shares of common stock in a deal with seven investors, including one board member.

The board of directors of United Community Banks Inc. in Blairsville, Ga., said Tuesday that it was temporarily suspending its quarterly dividend to avoid further dilution of its shares and improve its liquidity.

Seven failed banks holding a combined $14 billion in assets failed Friday in what was yet another busy night for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Less than a week after its parent's bankruptcy filing, Cleveland-based AmTrust Bank failed Friday at a cost of $2 billion to the government.

Less than a week after its parent's bankruptcy filing, Cleveland-based AmTrust Bank failed Friday at a cost of $2 billion to the government.

Officials announced the elaborate closing of San Francisco-based United Commercial Bank Friday night in a deal involving both U.S. and Chinese regulators and a buyer poised to assume the bank's operations immediately.

Georgia Bancshares Inc. in Peachtree City has agreed not to pay dividends or incur debt without Federal Reserve Board approval.

For the first time in more than two years, nonperforming assets at Atlantic Coast Federal Corp. in Waycross, Ga., went down.

For the first time in more than two years, nonperforming assets at Atlantic Coast Federal Corp. in Waycross, Ga., went down.

Failures in 2009 shot past the 100-mark late Friday as regulators swooped into seven community banks in the Midwest and southeast.

Failures in 2009 shot past the 100-mark late Friday as regulators swooped into seven community banks in the Midwest and southeast.

Though United Community Banks in Blairsville, Ga., continued to suffer worse-than-expected loan losses in the third quarter, it offered an optimistic outlook on a conference call Friday.

Regulators closed the $2 billion-asset Georgian Bank in Atlanta on Friday, the industry's 95th failure of the year. Despite its relatively small size, regulators estimated it would take a heavy toll on the Deposit Insurance Fund, costing $892 million.

Guaranty Bank, a $13.5 billion-asset Austin thrift, failed on Friday and was scooped up by a Spanish-owned bank.

Appalachian Bancshares Inc. in Ellijay, Ga., is warning that it might be unable to survive. In belatedly filing its second-quarter results with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, the $1.2 billion-asset company said that its bank unit is undercapitalized and that it is uncertain whether it can satisfy a regulatory order to raise capital.

Georgian Bancorp. is still seeking to raise at least $25M after a tenfold jump in bad loans in six months.

As FSI Group LLC prepared to pour $40 million into Security Bank Corp. last year, it considered what it thought would be the worst-case scenario.

Though the seizure of Security Bank Corp.'s six banks did nothing to change Georgia's reputation as a failure hub, many are calling the resolution the best thing to happen to the state's banking market in years.