In a statement sent Friday evening, the chairman of the board of directors of Park Avenue Bank said the bank was placed into receivership.

“I am deeply saddened that The Park Avenue Bank was placed into receivership. Unfortunately, the bank could not weather the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression,” said James L. Dewar Jr., chairman of PAB’s board of directors, in a statement emailed after 6 p.m. Friday.

“As this prolonged economic crisis negatively affected our markets, many of our customers were unable to satisfy their obligations on their loans and the bank sustained losses that were too much to bear,” Dewar said in the statement.

In December, Park Avenue Bank had entered into an agreement with The Federal Reserve to take corrective action to increase the bank’s equity through the sales of shares or contributions, or enter into and close a sale of the bank to another depository institution holding company.

But Dewar said the Valdosta, Ga.,-based bank explored countless alternatives in order to raise capital and save the bank, but it was ultimately unsuccessful.

So on Friday, the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance closed Park Avenue Bank. Subsequently, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) was named receiver, which said no advance notice is given to the public when a financial institution is closed.

All deposit accounts have been transferred to the Bank of the Ozarks based in Little Rock, Ark.

“On behalf of the board of directors, I want to thank everyone—our employees, our management team and, especially our customers—for sticking with us as we tried to work through these extraordinarily difficult times,” Dewar said. “When the bank was founded in 1956, we set out to serve the credit needs of this community; I am hopeful that the Bank of the Ozarks will do the same.”

Park Avenue Bank has a main Bainbridge branch at the corner of Broad and Shotwell streets and a drive-through branch on Shotwell Street near Harvey’s in Bainbridge.

The FDIC has a web site on failed bank information for Park Avenue Bank at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/parkavenue_ga.html.