FDIC Releases Bank Deposit Information

Total Stephens County deposits in FDIC insured banks continues a steady climb back to the 2009 peak of $344,998,000.

In a report just released for results through June 30, 2015, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation shows the total bank deposits in the county total $283,829,000.

That is an increase of $9,244,000 from last year.

This report includes the deposits of First Citizens Bank, Oconee Federal Savings and Loan, Regions Bank, South State Bank and Northeast Georgia Bank branches in Stephens County.

With last year’s merger of Stephens Federal into Oconee Federal Savings and Loan, there is no longer a locally chartered bank.

Three banks here are owned by South Carolina based institutions; Oconee Federal, First Citizens and South State Bank which acquired the rights to Habersham Bank in 2011 and CB&T in 2010.

Since last year’s report, First Citizens took first place in the most deposits while Oconee Federal slipped to second.

Since the 2003 sale of Bank of Toccoa to First Citizens, Stephens Federal had been the largest bank in the county.

First Citizens picked up nearly $6 million in deposits, but it was not the only bank that grew its deposits.

Northeast Georgia Bank’s local branch grew from $18,970,000 to $24,206,000, an increase of over $5 million.

Regions Bank also grew its local deposits to $53,322,000, reversing a slide witnessed over the past 8 years.

The only bank which saw a decline was South State Bank.

Their local deposits declined by over $2 million.

This report doesn’t include deposits for the credit unions which operate in Stephens County.

Other counties in Northeast Georgia also see improving bank deposits except for Elbert County where the decline has become even more pronounced than during the throes of the Great Recession.