First National closed down by OCC

After more than two years of heavy losses by its parent company, First National Bank of the South was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Friday.

First National’s parent, Spartanburg-based First National Bancshares, had lost nearly $94 million over the past nine quarters. 

In addition, First National Bank of the South entered into a consent order with the OCC last year which, among other things, contained a requirement that it achieve and maintain minimum capital requirements that exceed the minimum regulatory capital ratios for “well capitalized” banks.

Bluffton bank is second in SC to go under

Bluffton-based Woodlands Bank was shuttered by the Office of Thrift Supervision Friday, the second South Carolina financial institution to be seized by regulators in the past few months.

All deposit accounts, excluding certain brokered deposits, have been transferred to Bank of the Ozarks of Little Rock, Ark., according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which was named receiver.

 The former Woodlands Bank locations will reopen as branches of Bank of the Ozarks next week.

Taxman 1, Knicks/Cavs fans 0

Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby takes a pragmatic look at NBA star LeBron James’s decision to play for the Miami Heat.

It was a no-brainer for James to pick south Florida over a move to New York or remaining in Cleveland, but taxes likely had as much to do with James’s choice as anything else, Jacoby argues.

Had James chosen to play for the New York Knicks, for example, he would have been saddled with a city income tax of 12.85 percent. That’s on top of what the IRS takes.