Beach First closed by regulators
04/09/2010
Beach First National Bank became the first South Carolina financial institution to be closed by regulators in more than a decade when it was shuttered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Friday.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed by the OCC as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Bank of North Carolina, Thomasville, N.C., to assume all of the deposits of Beach First, according to an FDIC press release.
Beach First has been in dire straits for some time. Its parent, Myrtle Beach-based Beach First National Bancshares, lost $30 million last year.
Earlier this month, the company announced that Beach First National Bank would have to take a $14 million loss because of unpaid loans.
That loss dealt a severe blow to the bank’s already-fragile capital level, which had been under the close watch of the OCC and the Federal Reserve.
Beach First had faced significant challenges in the past two years, signing agreements with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve that required the bank to boost capital and take other measures to improve its financial situation.
Beach First shares were selling for 57 cents at the close of trading Friday.
The last South Carolina bank to be closed by regulators was Victory State Bank, which was seized by the FDIC in 1999.
Two North Carolina banks have been closed during the past year: Cape Fear Bank and the Cooperative Bank, both of Wilmington.
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