SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS

09/19/07

A study by Georgia Southern University comparing 33 banks in 14 Southeast Georgia counties shows that among community banks, Savannah Bank has the highest income at $8,271,000.
(Photo: Savannah Morning News)

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," Sibbald said. "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.

"The report is a hard-hitting, straightforward analysis of banks in our geographic area," wrote Richard S. Williams, CEO of Pineland State Bank in Metter. "It provides trend analysis and historical data that will be quite helpful to all community bankers in Southeast Georgia. It's great to see that COBA (College of Business Administration) continues its tradition of education beyond the classroom."

"Having a compilation of your geographic peer groups is extremely helpful," wrote D. Wayne Akins, president and CEO of Sea Island Bank. "The assembly of data from the local region provides a complete snapshot on the health of our communities. The data found in the appendices is an easy reference that would have taken a number of man-hours for us to develop."

A 2007 mid-year review is planned for late September, Sibbald said, and next year the performance review will be presented quarterly. The 2007 annual review will be available and distributed by May 1, 2008.

"Presenting these annual and quarterly performance reviews will support our university-wide objective to provide quality, value-added services to businesses in our area," Sibbald said. "We believe this study is the most comprehensive review of community banking performance in southeastern Georgia in recent years. Similarly, we are not aware of any recent comparable studies completed by any other unit of the University of Georgia system which has been publicly distributed to community banks within their respective regional areas."