Report: Georgia's Banks Hire More Workers, Lend More Money

By Justin Ove

Georgia’s 217 banks did brisk business in the first half of 2014, despite slightly lower profit margins between the first and second quarters of 2014, says the FDIC.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution cites FDIC figures which report that Georgia’s banks hired 150 more workers in the first half of this year, and also loaned out six percent more money than they did during the same period in 2013. Georgia banks loaned out $198.2 billion in the first half of 2014, and saw the percentage of delinquent loans decline to 1.7 percent.

The state’s banks also reported a combined profit of $1,1 billion and 88 percent of Georgia banks reported a profit in the first half of 2014, up slightly from the first half of 2013’s profitability rate of 87 percent. In the first quarter of 2014, Georgia’s banks reported their highest profits since before the Great Recession of 2008, which caused 88 banks to fail statewide. This was the highest total of bank failures for any state in the country.

Second quarter profit numbers were not as promising as the first quarter numbers, nor did Georgia’s banks match the national average profit increase of 5.3 percent, but a banking industry expert told the AJC that the overall report was a good one.