American Southern Bank, Kennesaw, Georgia

American Southern Bank of Kennesaw, Ga, was closed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance after the bell on Friday. The closure marks the 26th bank failure of 2009. Bank of North Georgia of Alpharetta, Ga, will assume all $112.3 million of American Southern Bank’s assets. 

Regulators on Friday shut down American Southern Bank in Georgia, boosting the number of failures this year to 26 — more bank closures than in all of last year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the bank, based in Kennesaw, Ga. It had about $112.3 million in assets and $104.3 million in deposits as of March 30.

The FDIC said a majority of the bank’s deposits will be assumed by Bank of North Georgia, based in Alpharetta, Ga. Bank of North Georgia will not assume $48.7 million in brokered deposits held by American Southern Bank. The FDIC said it will pay the brokers directly for the amount of their funds.

In addition to acquiring $55.6 million of the failed bank’s deposits, Bank of North Georgia agreed to purchase approximately $31.3 million in assets. The FDIC will retain the rest for eventual sale.

American Southern Bank branches will reopen Monday as offices of Bank of North Georgia.

American Southern Bank customers can still write checks and use ATM or debit cards, and loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual. The FDIC will continue to insure deposits. Regular deposit accounts are insured up to $250,000.

The latest bank to fail in Georgia was Omni National Bank in Atlanta on March 29.

Information about the takeover, including explanations of what depositors and loan customers should expect, may be read on the FDIC web page.

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