One of Georgia’s biggest business stories of 2013 was almost a non-story: It was the year the state’s six-year epidemic of bank failures finally came to an end.

It’s now been more than seven months since Georgia’s last bank failure. During 2013 just three Georgia banks were closed: Sunrise Bank of Valdosta on May 10, Douglas County Bank of Douglasville on April 26, and Frontier Bank of LaGrange on March 8.

Up until six years ago, bank failures were virtually unknown in Georgia in modern times. There was one in 2002 and one in 2007.

Then in 2008, Georgia’s banking nightmare began and over the next four years the Peach State became the epicenter of the nation’s banking crisis. Between 2008 and 2011, 74 banks failed in Georgia, more than in any other state.

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