Georgia regulators shut down bank and move assets to Anchor Bank

Georgia’s Department of Banking and Finance closed Community Bank and Trust – West Georgia on May 1, 2026 and the FDIC arranged for Anchor Bank (Palm Beach Gardens, FL) to assume substantially all insured deposits and certain assets.

What happened

• The state regulator took possession of Community Bank and Trust – West Georgia (LaGrange, GA) and appointed the FDIC as receiver on May 1, 2026.

• Anchor Bank of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, entered a purchase and assumption agreement with the FDIC to acquire substantially all insured deposits and certain assets.

• This is reported as the second U.S. bank failure of 2026.

Impact on depositors and operations

• All insured deposits were transferred to Anchor Bank and are immediately accessible to customers via ATMs, checks, and debit transactions.

• The three Community Bank & Trust branches are scheduled to reopen as branches of Anchor Bank on the following business day, operating under normal hours.

• Customers should continue using their existing branches and payment channels until Anchor Bank fully integrates the deposit records.

Deposit insurance and uninsured funds

• As of December 31, 2025, Community Bank and Trust – West Georgia reported approximately 288 million dollars in assets and 268 million dollars in deposits.

• About 27 million dollars of deposits exceeded FDIC insurance limits; that figure may change as the FDIC gets more data.

• The FDIC may later pay “advance dividends” to uninsured depositors based on recoveries from the sale of retained assets.

Cost to the DIF and Anchor’s position

• The FDIC currently estimates a roughly 97 million dollar hit to the Deposit Insurance Fund from this failure, subject to revision as asset disposition progresses.

• The transaction increases Anchor Bank’s total assets to about 875 million dollars and represents its first expansion outside Florida, where it operates five branches.