Another Loudon branch bank closed up shop last week.

United Community Bank on Highway 72 closed its doors Friday in a process begun 90 days earlier.

The branch's three remaining full-time employees will be relocated, if possible, to other locations.

Steve Hurst, regional manager, said the decision was made last year to close the branch as a cost-cutting measure. The branch opened in June 1991.

"We are like any other bank. We have to look at performance," Hurst said. "We look at all our locations on a regular basis and compare. Some tough decisions had to be made."

The announcement comes just two weeks after another bank closure was announced in Loudon. The Loudon branch of SunTrust Bank will close May 1.

Lynn Mills, Loudon city manager, said the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 is a driving force behind bank closures.

"The Dodd-Frank Act put a lot more restrictions and regulations on banks and capitalization. It causes banks to look at processes," Mills said. "We are looking at moving our banking to another institution."

Hurst said that was not the reason for the bank's decision.

"In general, the Dodd-Frank law is a cost for all financial institutions," he said.

Susan Roberts, senior vice president for regional banking, said UCB customers will be able to use the branches at Lenoir City or Tellico Village.

"We hope they will continue to bank with us," Roberts said. "So much of what is done today, with electronic banking being what it is, you don't have to have a physical branch nearby. You don't even have to have an ATM machine. You can go to Walmart and get cash if you need it."

Roberts said UCB's main branch in this region is in Lenoir City. Corporate offices are located in Blairsville, Ga. The bank was founded in 1950 and operates more than 100 branches in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. UCB has more than $6.7 billion in assets and is the third largest bank in Georgia.

Another bank opens
In the wake of the closures, another bank opened a Loudon branch on Jan. 22.

People's Bank of East Tennessee opened in the former FSG Bank building on Highway 72 beside Hardee's.
 
Loudon Branch Manager Charlie Bettis said the bank opened a loan office a year ago and decided this year to open a full service branch. The bank is headquartered in Madisonville.

"We purchased this office from FSG with the intent of making it a full service branch. We are locally owned," Bettis said. "And two people here have been in the area a long time. I've been at this since 1973 and Susan Clendenon was formerly with Green Bank/Capital and BB&T. With the older people, customers want somebody who knows them. We hope to bring back that local flavor.

"One customer told me he went into another bank to cash a check," Bettis said. "He had been a customer for 50 years and the folks asked to see his ID."

He said branch banking is a challenging field today and he hopes to make the Loudon branch profitable. He knows it will be a challenge.

"I grew up in Loudon and I don't like to see buildings empty," Bettis said. "Banks don't do banking like they used to because of regulatory issues. The only way to make money today is through loans.

"It used to be that you could cover up a branch that was not productive," he said. "If it didn't make it, you could hide it. It is not that way today."