Closed Friday, April 24, 2009 · Kennesaw, Cobb County, Georgia
American Southern Bank
American Southern Bank failed four years after it opened in 2005. In the three years to the fourth quarter of 2008, its assets grew 348%. Equity capital was below zero at its last report.
On the books, 2005 to 2009
Total assets peaked at $110 million. Equity capital had covered 69% of assets in the third quarter of 2005. By then 17% of its loans were 90 days or more past due or no longer accruing interest. It lost money in every one of the five reporting years on file before it closed. The deepest annual loss, $3.5 million, was booked in 2008.* 2009: January to March only, the last report before closing.
Size against the other 2009 failures
Total assets of each 2009 failure, log scale; American Southern Bank in red.
By assets it ranked 113th of the 140 failures in 2009. Within Georgia it ranks 89th by size of the 128 failures recorded since 1934. Across the failures of 2009, the median estimated loss came to 27% of assets. In the size ranking of that year, just above it was First State Bank of Flagstaff, Arizona ($107 million, loss 46% of assets); just below, Integrity Bank of Jupiter, Florida ($105 million, loss 35% of assets). Every 2009 failure in the explorer.
Three other banks closed that day; the largest was First Bank of Beverly Hills of Calabasas, California, at $1.3 billion.
Failures in Georgia
In 2009 regulators closed 25 banks in Georgia; this was the fifth. The previous failure there was Omni National Bank of Atlanta, on March 27, 2009. The next was Silverton Bank, NA of Atlanta, on May 1, 2009. Cobb County has 8 failed banks on FDIC record since 1934. Closest in time: Silverton Bank, NA (2009), ebank (2009), Georgian Bank (2009), Northwest Bank & Trust (2010), Security Exchange Bank (2012).