CertusBank, with a branch on Level Grove Road in Cornelia, is selling off its assets and plans to close its doors this fall.
There is, at this point, no specific information about what will happen at the Cornelia branch. In general, CertusBank officials say the day-to-day banking operations at all its banks will continue as normal during the sale.
Community and Southern Bank, with a branch on N. Main St. in Cornelia, announced this week that “it has entered into a Purchase and Assumption Agreement with CertusBank… to purchase certain loans and deposits related to fifteen CertusBank locations throughout Georgia and Florida.”
The deal will mean CSB picks up right at $764 million in deposits and about $230 million in loans. CSB will have to wait for their shareholders and federal regulators to sign off on the deal. CSB has not yet revealed if their deal includes the Certus branch in Cornelia. The transaction will take months to complete.
It is clear, whatever the outcome of the sale, the Level Grove Road building will get a new name over the door once again. It was First Georgia Bank until the FDIC shut it down and transferred its assets to CertusBank in 2011.
The CSB deal is part of a much larger plan which will wipe CertusBank off the financial map.
- Community & Southern Bank in Atlanta will acquire the majority of CertusBank’s Georgia deposits and all of its Florida deposits, certain loans and branches.
- Morris Bank in Dublin, Georgia, will acquire certain deposits, loans and a branch from CertusBank’s Warner Robins, Georgia, location.
- Queensborough National Bank & Trust Company in Louisville, Georgia, will acquire certain deposits, loans and branches from CertusBank’s Savannah and Rincon, Georgia, locations.
- Bank of North Carolina in High Point, a commercial bank with $4.17 billion in assets, will acquire certain deposits, loans and branches from CertusBank’s South Carolina locations.
CertusBank began falling apart a year ago when American Banker Magazine reported about Certus’ CEO and other executives’ free-spending ways while the company’s financials faltered. The board of directors cleared house and appointed a new CEO but the bank’s fortunes never rebounded.
