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Local Village Of America News

An Interview with New Bank CEO Pat Frawley

The new bank's ratio is a very strong 14.6%

by D. Tim Clark

February 1, 2010

On Friday evening, January 29th, 2010, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed one of West Georgia's oldest institutions, First National Bank of Georgia; and that very evening newly formed Community & Southern Bank assumed the asset and loan responsibilities of the former bank under the leadership of CEO Pat Frawley.

While one of the community's backbone institutions closed, the new bank opened for business as promised on the following Saturday morning. And as Community & Southern Bank completed their first morning in business, The Information Age sat down to ask CEO Pat Frawley a few questions:

Q: Mr. Frawley, the bank opened as promised this morning. Have there been any surprises?
A: "I have been very busy this morning .. visiting the Mirror Lake branch .. the Carrollton branch, and I was just downstairs at the drive-thru. The customers have been very supportive today. While I was down there, two customers who had taken money out of the bank yesterday, they returned it to the bank today."

Q: Do you have any connections to the local community, and do you plan on moving here?
A: "No, I do not have any ties to Carrollton other than David Edwards, a member of our management team. I am not planning on moving here; I have a home in Smyrna and I will be commuting .. against the grain."

Q: According to the Secretary of State's office, your new bank was created just yesterday, on the 29th. You also have another similarly named company, which was created on the 8th of January, Community & Southern Holdings, Inc. Is there a relationship between the two?
A: "Community & Southern Holdings is the holding company which owns the bank, similar to the way WGNB Corp. was the holding company for First National Bank of Georgia."

Q: According to research, you put about $90 million into the new bank?
A: "Actually, we put more than $100 million into the bank."

Q: And the holding company raised about $200 million?
A: "We raised more than $255 Million."

Q: That's a lot of money, are you planning on buying more banks?
A: "Yes we are, but we are not interested in buying just any bank. We are interested in banks located in North Georgia ... is one of the reasons we were interested in the bank here."

Q: Will your bank have a local board?
A: "No, we already have a board, but we may set up a local advisory board at some point. That is something we have to decide; I have operated with advisory boards in the past."

Q: What about the former executive team? Will they be staying?
A: "We will be working with the local executive team .. as we grow we will work with existing .. but there is no need to have duplication .. there does not need to be two CFOs ... one from two different banks .. as we grow."

Q: Will the bank be using the same routing numbers?
A: "Yes. There should be no interruption for customers when doing business with the bank .. the routing numbers and the people they have dealt with at the teller windows .. we want them to be the same."

Q: Is there anything you want your bank customers to know?
A: "First, the bank is stronger today than yesterday with a significant investment of capital. Their money is safer in the bank than it is at home. As we go forward .. businesses make changes everyday and we will be making changes (just like any business)."

Q: What is the bank's ratio?
A: "Our ratio is 14.6 percent."

Note: Tier 1 Leverage Ratio = $110M Capital / $750M Assets = 14.6%

This story is published on the following community web sites:

West Georgia | Carroll County | Bowdon | Carrollton | Mt. Zion | Roopville | Temple | Villa Rica | Whitesburg

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