Federal regulators closed the Bank of Asheville this afternoon, marking the first bank failure in North Carolina since 2009.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Bank of Asheville, which has five branches and $195.1 million in assets. The FDIC also orchestrated a deal to transfer the assets to First Bank, a lender based in Troy, N.C., with 92 branches.
The Bank of Asheville branches will reopen Monday under the First Bank name.
The FDIC also seized CommunitySouth Bank and Trust, based in Easley, S.C., with $440.6 million in assets. That brings the number of closures this year to five, following 157 last year.
CertusBank, a newly chartered subsidiary of Charlotte-based Blue Ridge Holdings, assumed all of the deposits and most of the assets of CommunitySouth.
Small community banks have struggled with bad real-estate loans and the weak economy.
But N.C. banks have fared well in the financial crisis, compared to the piles of failed banks in states such as Georgia and Florida. Only two N.C. banks have closed since the recession hit: Cape Fear Bank and Cooperative Bankshares in 2009, both in Wilmington.
Assistant Business Editor Alan M. Wolf joined the N&O in 1999 covering the business of health care. He became an editor in 2001, and helps oversee the paper's daily business coverage and Sunday Work&Money section. He lives in Clayton with his wife and two children. Reach him at 919-829-4572 or