Ameris Bancorp completes acquisition of Fidelity Southern Corporation and announces the appointment of new CEO

Fidelity Bank was merged with and into the Ameris Bank. Source: shutterstock.com

Ameris Bancorp announced today that it completed the acquisition of Fidelity Southern Corporation as of?July 1, 2019.? Immediately following the acquisition, Fidelity’s banking subsidiary, Fidelity Bank, was merged with and into the Ameris Bank, with?Ameris Bank?surviving the merger. Fidelity Bank previously operated 62 branches, 46 of which were located in?Georgia?and 16 of which were located in Florida.

Based on?March 31, 2019, financial data and excluding purchase accounting adjustments, the combined bank has assets of?$16.4 billion, deposits of?$13.8 billion?and total loans of?$12.5 billion.

The Company also announced today that?Dennis J. Zember Jr.?has resigned from his positions as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Ameris Bancorp, and as CEO and a director of?Ameris Bank, citing a need to attend to family and personal matters. In connection with the consummation of the merger, H.?Palmer Proctor, Jr., former President of Fidelity and CEO of Fidelity Bank, has been named CEO of the Ameris Bancorp and?Ameris Bank.

Additionally, five former Fidelity directors –?James B. Miller, Jr., H.?Palmer Proctor, Jr.,?Gloria A. O’Neal,?Rodney D. Bullardand Wm.?Millard Choate?– have been appointed to the board of directors of the Ameris Bancorp and?Ameris Bank.

SEE ALSO:?The best and worst states for credit scores in 2019 – research