Community banks in southeast Georgia compare favorably to state and nation

September 10, 2007

The growth and profitability of community banks in southeast Georgia compare favorably to statewide and national community bank averages, according to the 2006 Annual Performance Review of Georgia Southeastern Region Community Banks. This result is one of the 12 key highlights listed in the executive summary of a new study developed by the Center for Excellence in Financial Services at Georgia Southern University.

The review includes data from 33 banks in 14 counties, most located in the region defined as Division One of the Community Bankers Association of Georgia. While the banks vary in assets, income, and number of branches, they are all located in southeast Georgia and generally share a common business model.

‘Banks use uniform accounting and reporting practices, and are required to file quarterly financial performance reports with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,” explained Edward Sibbald, BB&T Executive in Residence in Banking in the College of Business Administration, who developed the report. ‘This commonality and public access to the reports made it possible to gather the necessary data and create the statistical tables comparing the southeast Georgia community bank group with community banks in Georgia and nationwide.”

“The information provided in this report is publicly available, but few banks have the resources to create an in-depth study like this,” explained Sibbald, who has 34 years of leadership experience in financial services in New York, Chicago and Atlanta. Sibbald credited financial analyst Molly Butler, who will graduate from Georgia Southern in December, with extensive work in gathering the data.

‘This report presents information in the way bankers want to see it,” said Sibbald. ‘Management and members of each bank’s board of directors can understand it, and it covers all the meaningful ratios that bankers use.” Sibbald added, ‘This document is a value-added service that Center for Excellence in Financial Services can provide to support the decision-making of regional bankers.”

Bankers have responded favorably to the new report.