US regulators closed a Georgia community bank on Friday bringing total closures to 12 so far this year. Global Commerce Bank of Doraville, Georgia, which had about $143.7 million in total assets, was closed and its deposits are being assumed by Metro City Bank of Doraville, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp announced on Friday.
Metro City agreed to purchase about $79 million of Global Commerce's assets and the FDIC said it will hold on to the rest for now. Global Commerce's three branches will open on Saturday under the Metro City Bank banner. This is the third bank in Georgia to be closed this year.
As the economy recovers and the 2007-2009 financial crisis fades further into the distance, the pace of bank failures has slowed. In 2010, 157 banks with $92.1 billion in total assets failed while 92 institutions with $34.9 billion in total assets were closed in 2011. Smaller banks, particularly those with less than $1 billion in assets, have made up the majority of closures the past few years. FDIC acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg has said that a big focus for his agency this year will be examining the state of community banking industry and what can be done to help small lenders.