First Liberty of Ga. Losing Exec To Trenton Savings - Or Is It?

First Liberty Bank is losing executive vice president Larry D. Flowers, the former Citibank executive who engineered the Macon, Ga., thrift's retail banking strategy.

But who is getting him, exactly, is still up in the air.

According to First Liberty, Mr. Flowers will become executive vice president of Trenton Savings Bank, a $441 million-asset institution based in Lawrenceville, N.J..

A release from First Liberty Financial Corp., First Liberty's $804 million-asset holding company, indicated that Mr. Flowers would assume the chief executive's mantle when Trenton Savings' current CEO retires.

But officials in New Jersey said that Mr. Flowers had not even been hired.

"While it is true we have had employment discussions with Mr. Flowers, those discussions have not reached their conclusion," said a Trenton Savings spokesman.

The spokesman would not comment on whether the thrift is even looking for a likely replacement for its chief executive, Wendell T. Breithaupt.

Mr. Flowers was traveling and could not be reached for comment. One thing is clear, though: He's leaving First Liberty after two and a half years formulating that thrift's retail push. During his tenure, First Liberty grew substantially on consumer loans as it bought up branches across middle, coastal, and south Georgia. Many of those branches were from failed institutions or from regional institutions shedding their rural branches.

First Liberty has 27 branches and an Atlanta-based mortgage company.

"Larry Flowers has done an outstanding job for our company, especially in the development of our community bank structure over the last two and a half years," said Robert F. Hatcher, First Liberty's chief executive. "We certainly are going to miss him ... but I know that his new position will offer some excellent opportunities. We wish him the very best."

Before joining First Liberty, Mr. Flowers had been an executive at Citibank in Miami.

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