EMEA

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.