AB&T National Bank hopes to convert charter, change name

ALBANY — Although local financial institution AB&T National Bank is already known as AB&T throughout the community, that moniker is expected to become the bank’s official name following the company’s change from a national bank charter to a state bank charter.

The bank, which is a subsidiary of Community Capital Bancshares Inc., announced this week that its directors are filing an application to convert the charter, which must be approved by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. Once approved, the new charter will mean that the bank will no longer be regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in Washington, D.C.

“Given our focus and commitment to community banking, we feel that a state charter better aligns with the interests of our local community,” said AB&T President and CEO Luke Flatt in a recent press release. “Furthermore, our promise of providing ‘gold standard service’ remains unchanged.”

Flatt said the change in charters will have very limited impact on how the bank does business and will have no impact on customer transactions.

“Our customers will not see any change in our associates who serve them or in the way they transact business with the bank,” said Flatt. “Their deposits will continue to be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), just as they are today. Customers might notice that we have dropped the words National Bank from the name, but that should be the only apparent difference.”

At its essence, Flatt said, the decision to change the charter was driven by the bank’s desire to better serve its community, which is at the heart of the financial institution’s mission and has been since it first opened as Albany Bank & Trust in 1999.

If the change in charter is approved, the conversion would likely become effective in the first quarter of 2017, and AB&T will join a number of it primary competitors, such as Flint Community Bank, Renasant Bank, SB&T and SunTrust, as area institutions operating under state bank charters.

AB&T currently has three locations in Albany and Leesburg with average assets of more than $143 million in the second quarter of 2016.