LAKELAND — Smaller community banks across the southeast that want to compete with larger institutions that provide customers online banking, emergency data back-up, networking, Web design and other critical banking services can now obtain those services from FMB Bancshares Inc. of Lakeland.

FMB Bancshares, the parent company of Farmers and Merchants Bank, acquired three Georgia companies to form a separate business unit to offer the new services, according to FMB Chairman Larry Lee and CFO Franklin Patten.

The acquired companies include Southern Financial Systems of Adel, Beacon Software of Marietta and Computer Design of Nashville. The companies will be joined under the widely recognized Southern Financial Systems name, which has a regional reputation in the banking industry. Beacon Software already taps into a national market with its products, Patten said.

Southern Financial Systems will operate as a completely separate business unit of FMB. With the addition of Beacon Software and Computer Design, Southern Financial Services will offer core accounting software sales and integration, access to a turn-key data center that provides data processing, ATM and image processing, Web design, Internet and telephone and mobile banking, network services and computer sales and services, the bank officials said.

FMB provides the following information on each of the companies:

• Southern Financial Systems was established in 1986. The company provides conversion, installation, programming, training, sales, consulting and support in all areas of bank automation including core accounting, item processing, check imaging, loan and deposit origination systems, document imaging, teller systems, Internet banking and bill pay.

• Beacon Software was established in 2002 with a single focus on community financial institutions. A sampling of products offered by the firm include retail Internet banking, business Internet banking, telephone banking, mobile banking and Internet bill pay including creation, design and implementation. Beacon also provides Web site design, implementation and hosting for community banks.

Beacon’s customers include community banks in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Michigan and South Carolina.

• Computer Design is a solution provider, executing systems integration, migration and convergence for small and medium-sized companies. They help reduce the cost of ownership for IT infrastructure support and optimize performance and productivity through added enterprise stability, security and scalability. The firm’s typical client operates between 20 and 200 computers.

The acquisitions enable FMB to expand into a national market to help community banks that sometimes find it difficult to compete with the larger banking firms, Lee and Patten said.

“Bringing these three companies and their capabilities together under one banner will position the new Southern Financial Systems to fill a large void that exists for a full-service regional data processor focused exclusively on the needs of the community banking market,” Lee said.

Levels of service are geared to meet the requirements desired by the individual community bank. The services are available right now, Patten said.

“If a community bank desires to have all of their own computer work done in-house, we can sell them the hardware and software to do that, and provide training,” Patten said. “If, for example, the bank desires to have their data processing done for them, we have a data center here in Lakeland, run by Southern Financial Systems, that will process their work for them.”

The ability to provide on-line banking services is added by the acquisition of Beacon Software. Services like automatic bill pay and on-line checking, among other common Internet services, are now possible for the community banks to offer through this acquisition, Patten said.

Also, the new service unit can offer emergency data backup and disaster recovery services with its backup facilities in Marietta, he said.

“By putting these three companies together, we can now provide the community banks a sort of convenient one-stop shop where they can get everything they need,” Patten said. “The services are available now. While this will also benefit customers of FMB’s branches and locations in Valdosta, Nashville, Homerville, Lakeland, Conyers and Covington, the move has the potential for helping us establish a national market for providing these services to the community banks.”

FMB Bancshares Inc. is a Lakeland-based financial services holding company celebrating its 25th year. Farmers and Merchants Bank, it’s principal operating unit, was founded in 1907.