Superior Bank closes, reopens under new owner

Superior Bank, with branch offices in Hartselle, Falkville and Decatur, was closed at the end of business Friday, April 15, by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver.

Shortly thereafter, in a move to protect its depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Superior Bank N.A., Birmingham, a newly-chartered bank subsidiary of Community Bancorp LLC, Houston, Texas, to assume all of the deposits of Superior Bank.

Superior’s Bank locations offering Saturday hours reopened under normal operating conditions the next day and all 73 locations were operating as usual on Monday.

“The transition from Friday until today (Tuesday) has been smooth,” said Todd Bennich, Hartselle branch manager. “There have been some questions from customers about how the ownership change will affect them. We’ve told them we still have the same people here to take care of their banking needs and there’s been no change in the way the bank operates.”

In a press release, Superior N.A. pointed out that deposits will continue to be insured by FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship in order to retain their deposit insurance coverage up to applicable limits. Also, depositors were told they could access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards, Checks drawn on the bank would continue to be processed and loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of Dec 31, 2010, Superior Bank had approximately $3.0 billion in total assets and $2.7 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Superior Bank N.A. agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.