Weiss Ratings News Briefs


20th Georgia bank closed by regulators

10/17/2011

Piedmont Community Bank in Gray, southeast of Atlanta, was closed by state regulators on Friday, October 14. The institution had $201.7 million in assets at June 30 and was rated E- (“Very Weak”) by Weiss at the time of failure. It had been rated in the E range for the last eleven quarters and was first identified as “Weak” in June 2008. It reported a loss of more than $8.2 million for the first six months of the year and had below-FDIC-mandated Tier 1 (5%) and risk-based capital (6%) ratios of 0.58% and 1.50%, respectively. Nonperforming assets represented 13.9% of total loans.

State Bank and Trust Company in Macon, with assets of $2.8 billion and a Weiss Financial Strength Rating of C+ (“Fair”), assumed the deposits of Piedmont Community Bank. State Bank and Trust has strong risk-based capital of 35.34%, which is almost double the industry average while nonperforming loans make up a moderate 4.33% of total loans. The bank earned almost $17 million in net income for the six months ending June 30 for a ROA of 1.25%, well above the industry average of 0.87%.