EMEA

It was another busy — and costly — night for regulators in the Southeast. Of the nation's six failures Friday — bringing the year's total to 157 — three were in Georgia and one was in Florida, continuing the onslaught the two states have suffered in the crisis.

Heritage Financial Group Inc. in Albany, Ga., said Tuesday that it has finished its second-step conversion and is now a stock holding company.

Ameris Bancorp in Moultrie, Ga., an active buyer of failed competitors, on Tuesday appointed a president for its bank.

Two failures in Georgia and another in Arizona late Friday cost the Deposit Insurance Fund about $204 million.

A group of private-equity investors has agreed to inject $200 million of fresh capital into Brand Group Holdings Inc. in Lawrenceville, Ga., the company announced Monday.

United Community Banks Inc. in Blairsville, Ga., reported a net loss of $239 million for the third quarter, which it attributed primarily to a major goodwill impairment charge.

The Federal Reserve Board issued three enforcement actions against community banks and their holding companies on Thursday.

Ameris Bank is one of the few homegrown banks in Georgia to have bid successfully on multiple failed banks. That's especially notable given that Ameris, which on Friday made its fourth failed-bank purchase in the past year, has had eight consecutive quarters of net losses largely owing to credit deterioration in real estate-related loans.

Seven banks failed Friday, bringing the total number of failures this year to within one of the number of failures in all of 2009. So far 139 banks have failed in 2010. Friday's failures are expected to cost the deposit insurance fund a collective $478 million.

Fidelity Southern Corp. in Atlanta has reported third-quarter earnings of $2.1 million, a 425% improvement from a year earlier, and says that most of its problems are behind it.