Regulators close another Georgia bank

If it's Friday, regulators somewhere must be closing a bank. This week, it was Freedom Bank of Georgia, a four-branch operation in the northeastern corner of that state.

The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance shut down Freedom Bank and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver. It arranged for Northeast Georgia Bank to take over the deposits and most of the assets.

Friday's action marked the eighth straight week that regulators have closed a failing bank. So far this year, 17 banks have gone under, compared with 25 for all of 2008.

Freedom Bank was based in Commerce, Ga. It had approximately $161 million in deposits and $173 million in assets. Its branches will reopen on Monday as Northeast Georgia Bank locations.

The FDIC said Northeast Georgia Bank agreed to buy $167 million of the failed bank's assets, at a discount of $13.65 million. The FDIC and the bank also agreed to a loss-sharing arrangement covering $96.5 million of those assets.

The FDIC estimated that the bank closing will cost its deposit insurance fund $36.2 million.