Rochester,NY 9/2/2009 9:37:50 PM
Crescent Banking Co. CSNT, FirstBank to merge with Crescent
Crescent Banking Co.
Charleston-based Community FirstBank is set to cozy up a little closer to its corporate sibling on the Grand Strand.
Carolina Financial Corp., which owns the local community lender as well as Crescent Bank of Myrtle Beach, has notified regulators of plans to merge the charters of the two standalone subsidiaries.
John D. Russ, chairman and chief executive officer of privately held Carolina Financial, said the change is a internal move that will allow the business units to reduce costs by sharing more back-office paperwork, streamlining reporting requirements and reducing redundancies.
The move also is part of a plan to position Carolina Financial to expand its banking franchise within the next three to five years as the economy rebounds.
"There are certainly in-fill opportunities and opportunities farther down the coast," Russ said.
He also said he remains bullish about the long-term growth prospects for the Lowcountry and the Grand Stand, tourist-rich areas that in recent years have been slammed by the slumping housing industry.
Carolina Financial was established by Russ and other former top executives with Home Federal Savings Bank in 1997. After raising more than $6 million in a private offering, it opened its first Community FirstBank branch in April of that year at 288 Meeting St., which remains the head office for both companies.
Carolina Financial expanded into the go-go Myrtle Beach market by forming Crescent about three years later.
While profits are down, the two banks were in the black for the first half of this year, though Community FirstBank carded a small second-quarter loss of $64,000 that Russ attributed to problematic real estate loans.
Combined, the two banking units have assets of assets of about $1.1 billion, 10 retail branches and roughly 115 employees.
Community FirstBank's six offices are in downtown Charleston, James Island, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Summerville and West Ashley. Crescent's four branches are in Conway, Garden City, Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle.
Russ said the merging of the two bank charters is expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter. The combination will have no visible impact on the operations or customers of either lender, and no name changes are planned "at the present," he said.
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