South Carolina

Shares of Southcoast Financial (SOCB) surged more than 50% Thursday after the Mt. Pleasant, S.C., banking company reported its first quarterly profit in nearly two years.

Southcoast Financial Corp. in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., reported a fourth-quarter loss of $4.8 million, or nearly five times larger than what it lost a year earlier.

The Federal Reserve Board has ordered bank holding companies in Iowa, Wisconsin and South Carolina to use whatever resources are available to them to nurse their ailing bank subsidiaries back to health.

Security Federal Corp. in Aiken, S.C.. has reorganized as a bank holding company and its subsidiary, Security Federal Bank, has converted from a federally chartered thrift to a state-regulated commercial bank.

Ailing Palmetto Bancshares Inc. in Greenville, S.C., will shutter more branches and eliminate more jobs as it struggles to return to profitability.

The names of 18 former CapitalBank branches in South Carolina have been changed to Park Sterling Bank.

Four community bankers on the hunt for acquisitions warned prospective sellers that they will have little say in how much they get paid.

CertusBank in Greenville, S.C. said Wednesday that it agreed to buy $96 million of performing loans and $211 million of deposits from First Guaranty Bank Corp.

Park Sterling Corp. in Charlotte, N.C., said it expects to complete its acquisition of Community Capital Corp. in Greenwood, S.C., next week.

The Federal Reserve has announced written agreements with three banking companies.

Bank of North Carolina in Thomasville, N.C., announced Thursday that it is buying Regent Bank in Greenville, S.C., for $9.8 million.

Integra Bank in Evansville, Ind., was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, after fighting to survive for nearly two years.

SCBT Financial Corp. in Columbia, S.C., which bought a failed bank and raised capital in February, on Friday posted its best quarterly results in two years.

First Financial Holdings Inc. in Charleston, S.C., is looking to unload $155 million of mostly troubled real estate loans by the end of 2011.

The Bank of South Carolina Corp. is on pace to beat its profit target for the full year thanks to strong second-quarter results, its president said Wednesday.

First Community Corp. in Lexington, S.C., on Wednesday agreed to buy the assets of Palmetto South Mortgage Corp. of Columbia, S.C. The $607.3 million-asset company said it expects to complete the deal on July 31.

First Financial Holdings Inc. in Charleston, S.C., has agreed to buy five South Carolina branches from Liberty Savings Bank. The $3.3 billion-asset First Financial will buy $109.5 million in deposits and $27 million in performing loans as part of the deal.

The closure Friday of the $208 million-asset Atlantic Bank and Trust in Charleston, S.C., was estimated to cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. $36 million.

First Financial Holdings Inc. is selling its insurance agency subsidiary and its chief executive said that the Charleston, S.C., company intends to use the proceeds to shore up its capital base and invest in its core businesses of banking and wealth management.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced written agreements with four banking companies.