Alpha Bank & Trust, Alpharetta, GA
October 24, 2008 – 2:17 pmThe FDIC has now closed 16 banks in 2008, with Stearns Bank of St. Cloud, Minnesota, assuming the insured deposits of Alpha Bank & Trust of Alpharetta, Georgia. Alpha Bank has $354M in assets and $346M in deposits:
Alpha Bank & Trust of Alpharetta, Georgia, was closed by regulators today, the 16th U.S. bank seized this year amid a collapse in the housing markets that led to a $700 billion rescue plan to unfreeze financial markets.
Alpha, with $354 million in assets and $346 million in deposits, was shut by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named receiver. Stearns Bank, N.A., of St. Cloud, Minnesota, will assume deposits. Alpha’s two offices north of Atlanta will open on Oct. 27 as branches of Stearns Bank, the FDIC said.
You can read the FDIC press release at the official web page.
The FDIC said customers’ access to their money will not be interrupted over the weekend.
Alpha Bank’s two branches will open on Oct. 27 as Stearns Bank. Over the weekend, Alpha Bank & Trust customers can access their insured deposits by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.
More information is available at the FDIC web page.
Alpha Bank specialized in construction loans and was in business for just over two years:
Alpha Bank opened in May 2006, and began quickly growing its loan portfolio, primarily in now-souring residential construction and land development loans.
Real estate loans by the bank increased 1,700 percent from $12 million on June 30, 2006, to $218 million by June 30, 2007, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.
That period coincides with the end of what bankers now call the most speculative and exuberant period in Atlanta residential development lending.
The bulk of those loans, $183 million, were in construction and land development.
That growth then slowed dramatically during the following year, from June 2007 to June 2008. Construction and land development loans increased by 30 percent, from $183 million to $233 million.
That pretty much sums it up.
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