Wednesday, September 3, 2008

10th bank failure of 2008

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- State regulators shuttered a Georgia bank late Friday, marking the tenth bank failure this year.

Integrity Bank, based in Alpharetta, Georgia, was closed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was named receiver.

The bank had $1.1 billion in total assets and $974.0 million in total deposits as of June 30.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation approved the assumption of Integrity Bank's deposits by Regions Bank, of Birmingham, Alabama. The failed bank's five offices will reopen Tuesday as branches of Regions Bank.

All depositors of Integrity Bank, including those with deposits in excess of the FDIC's $100,000 insurance limit, will automatically become depositors of Regions Bank for the full amount of their deposits, the FDIC said in a statement.

Depositors will continue to have uninterrupted access to their deposits and will remain insured by Regions Bank.

"There is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance," according to the statement.

Regions Bank will pay a portion of the failed bank's deposits and will purchase approximately $34.4 million of its assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition.

In the statement, the FDIC estimated that the cost to its Deposit Insurance Fund will be between $250 million and $350 million.

Customers with questions about about the failure of Integrity Bank can visit the FDIC's Web site at www.fdic.gov, or call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-523-0640.