United Bank is purchasing the assets of First Coweta Bank which was shuttered by the FDIC at 6 p.m. Friday. First Coweta held assets of approximately $155 million. Its main office is in Newnan. It has branches at Summer Grove, an upscale housing development in Coweta County, and the cities of Whitesburg and Hogansville. Those branches will open as United Bank locations tomorrow morning. In December, 2008, United Bank was selected by the FDIC to take over the operations of First Community Bank of Jackson which was also shuttered by regulators. United Bank was the most profitable bank in Georgia for the second quarter of 2009. The following is the text of an official news release from United Bank issued at 6:35 p.m: On Friday, August 21, 2009 United Bank announced it entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with the FDIC to assume all deposits and approximately $155 million in assets of First Coweta Bank based in Newnan, Georgia. United Bank purchased both insured and uninsured deposits and therefore all First Coweta Bank depositor accounts will be honored in full. All former First Coweta Bank locations will open as normal on Saturday, August 22, 2009, at their regular times and customers will be able to conduct business as usual. At the time of the transaction, First Coweta Bank had approximately $167 million in deposits and operated two banking locations in Newnan as well as locations in Whitesburg and Hogansville, Georgia. With the acquisition, United Bank will operate twenty-two banking locations in eleven contiguous counties on the western, southern and eastern sides of metro Atlanta. The combined institution will have more than $940 million in assets, $82 million in capital and employ over 350 people. First Coweta is the second financial institution United Bank has assumed from the FDIC in the last year after assuming First Georgia Community Bank in Jackson in December 2008. United Bank traces its roots back over 100 years to its founding as The Bank of Zebulon in 1905. The Bank was one of the first financial institutions in the country to receive deposit insurance from the FDIC in 1935. Throughout the years the Bank has steadily focused on operating as a conservative community bank while offering innovative services to its customers such as its Customer Contact Center which offers live customer service from 7 am to 11 pm six days per week. In addition to offering a wide variety of traditional personal and business loan and deposit products, United Bank is one of the largest permanent mortgage originators in the markets it serves and also offers a full service Trust and Investment Division. United Bank believes in the incentive of ownership among its employees and has had a profit sharing plan since 1972. This strengthens capital over time and encourages employees to build long lasting relationships with customers and the communities the Bank serves. Nearly 90% of the Company is owned by its employees, directors and their families. Commenting on the acquisition, United Bank Chairman John Edwards said, ‘We are extremely pleased to be able to expand into Newnan, Whitesburg and Hogansville. We welcome First Coweta Bank’s customers and employees to United Bank, and we promise to make the transition as easy and seamless as possible. We look forward to becoming as involved in these new communities as we have always been in the other communities we have served for years.’ For more information about United Bank, customers are encouraged to view the Bank’s website at http://www.accessunited.com or call our Contact Center at 770-567-7211. And this is a statement from Joe Brannen, CEO of the Georgia Bankers Association, on the First Coweta closure and the closure of ebank of Atlanta today: ebank was closed by Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Stearns Bank, National Association, St. Cloud, Minnesota, to assume all of the deposits of ebank. The sole branch of ebank will reopen on Monday as a branch of StearnsBank, N.A. Depositors of ebank will automatically become depositors of Stearns Bank, N.A. The sole branch of ebank will reopen on Monday as a branch of Stearns Bank, N.A. This evening and over the weekend, depositors of ebank can access their money 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. See the links below for more details. First Coweta Bank, Newnan, was closed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance (DBF), which appointed the FDIC as receiver. FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with United Bank, Zebulon, to assume all of the deposits, excluding those from brokers. All deposit accounts of First Coweta Bank have been transferred to United Bank and will be available immediately. On Saturday, August 22, 2009, depositors will be able to access their accounts at the former main office and branch locations of First Coweta Bank. Customers of both banks should continue to use their existing branches until United Bank can fully integrate the deposit records of First Coweta Bank. Additionally, the former depositors of First Coweta Bank can continue to access their accounts through automated teller machine transactions, checks and debit transactions.
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