Friday evening at the FDIC - United Bank acquires First Georgia Community Bank

Friday evening the FDIC took control of only one bank, arranging for United Bank, Zebulon, Georgia, to assume all of the deposits of First Georgia Community Bank, Jackson, Georgia. In other words, all deposits, including those above the $250,000 FDIC limit, were protected.

The FDIC does not give any advance notice of bank closures. In fact, it is usually a state banking regulator who does the closure and then FDIC is "named receiver" and then takes over and promptly arranges to sell as much deposits and assets as it can.

The basic idea is to totally avoid old-fashioned "runs" on banks and pre-arrange the assumption of deposits by a healthy bank before the closure is even announced. In other words, there should be no disruption of service and no need for customers to lose any sleep.

There have been 23 banks that have been closed by regulators this year, which is a lot compared to a normal year, but miniscule considering that all that has happened this year and the fact that there are over 8,000 banks and savings associations in the U.S.

-- Jack Krupansky