Newest Bank Failure Raises Georgia, National Tallies

The 2011 national tally for bank failures crested at 88 with the closure of a financial institution in Georgia Thursday.

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The ""Community Bank of Rockmart"":http://communitybankofrockmart.com/ added to the state's litany of bank failures by shuttering with $62.4 million in total assets and $55.9 million in total deposits. State regulators closed the bank and appointed the ""FDIC"":http://www.fdic.gov/ as receiver.

The FDIC swooped in to cover the $14.5 million-bill left behind by the bank failure, with the Deposit Insurance Fund sopping up any expenses.

Cartersville-based ""Century Bank of Georgia"":https://www.centurybanknet.com/ stepped in to purchase $40.7 million of the financial institution's assets and rebrand the bank's sole branch, which will reopen Saturday in honor of Veteran's Day.

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Century Bank welcomed the adoption of a new branch and assets, with ""Rick Drews"":http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Drews_Rick_54807638.aspx, its CEO, appearing in a Web cast to greet new depositors.

""The entire Century Bank of Georgia team is excited about this opportunity to better serve the Rockmart and Polk County markets and we were pleased that a local institution was able to assume Community Bank of Rockmart's operations,"" he said in a ""statement"":https://www.centurybanknet.com/files/press-release-rockmart.pdf. ""Our bank already conducts business in these markets and many of our team members live in these markets and have long-term relationships in the community.

""We look forward to meeting each of our new customers and building on the foundation of customer service that Community Bank of Rockmart began,"" he added.

The failure in Rockmart boosts both the national and state tallies, with the latter climbing to 23, allowing Georgia to stay the leader in closures for the country this year.

The large number of failures for Georgia has led lawmakers to concentrate much of their focus on onerous regulation around the state. In August ""Rep. Lynn Westmoreland"":http://westmoreland.house.gov/ (R-Georgia) helped lead the charge to a ""field hearing in Georgia"":https://themreport.com/articles/four-banks-fail-as-lawmakers-increase-scrutiny-2011-08-22 that portrayed burdensome rules as culpable for the fallout in the Peach State.

Asked whether the new crop of bank failures in recent weeks means that U.S. markets should expect more, Greg Hernandez, FDIC spokesperson, demurred in a recent interview by reiterating that 2010 will likely remain the ""high-water mark"" for closures.