COLOMBIA – First Reliance wants to become South Carolina’s next billion dollar bank.
As large banks across the state of Palmetto have consolidated, moving their headquarters across the state, the Florence-based community bank has attracted a new team of industry veterans and has been committed to raising its profile in the Carolinas.
It is enough for some analysts to add it to their watch list this year.
“What is interesting about First Reliance is that it is in a growth spurt,” said Chris Marinac, a researcher at investment advisory firm Janney Montgomery Scott in Atlanta.
In his first report on the bank, Marinac points to First Reliance CEO Rick Saunders, seduced by chief operating officer Robert Dozier of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta and chief financial officer Robert Haile of former CresCom.
More recently, Justin Strickland of Columbia, formerly Southern First, joined as president.
“Your bench is getting deeper and deeper every quarter,” said Marinac. “I think that as they add this new leadership, customers are following.”
The bank currently has $ 750 million in total assets. Strickland, who will oversee the bank’s commercial business, expects to reach $ 1 billion over the next two years.
Prior to joining First Reliance, Strickland, as president, raised Southern First from $ 500 million in business in 2006 to $ 2.5 billion a year ago.
The Florence institution also hopes to take advantage of the gaps created by the sector’s mergers to grab market share.
“Businesses are growing and backyards are growing,” Marinac said of the South Carolina market. “They are in good shape, with good demographics and fewer banks.”
SunTrust Bank and BB&T Corp., South Carolina’s third and seventh largest banks in turnover, joined in 2019 to become Truist, the sixth largest bank in the United States with a projection of $ 442 billion in assets and $ 324 billion in customer deposits. With that, the headquarters was moved from Winston-Salem, NC to Charlotte.
Then, in 2020, South State Corp. merged $ 2.3 billion. Columbia and its headquarters moved from Capital City to central Florida.
And the second largest bank that has ever had its headquarters in the state, CresCom Bank, in an acquisition made in recent years, was acquired for $ 1.1 billion in late 2019 by United Bank of West Virginia.
When banks grow beyond a certain point, they should focus on larger customers, said Marinac, making the best use of his time. Therefore, these smaller customers can migrate to smaller, but growing, institutions like First Reliance.
“The Truist marriage is still evolving and the change in systems is just beginning to happen now,” said Marinac. “This creates a lot more opportunities.”
“The Southern State, I think, is going to have the same problem,” he added.
First Reliance already has forays into Winston-Salem, the fast-growing markets in Charleston and Greenville, as well as a presence in Lake Norman, near Charlotte.
“It really sets the stage for great growth potential in the next 12 to 24 months,” said Marinac.
He said the same applies to other banks, including Strickland’s former employer, Southern First; First Community in Lexington, which federal data shows has $ 1.1 billion in deposits; and Grand South in Spartanburg, with $ 868 million in deposits.
Marinac said that First Reliance has competitive advantages, having invested in the longevity of its real estate mortgage business that will power other parts of the company. Its loan portfolio is also clean, with almost no defaults or late payments amid the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Although business for the bank remained stable last year, Marinac is forecasting growth of over 14% in 2021 and 12% in the following year.
“They have considerable momentum, now they just need to keep running,” he said.
Strickland also said he expects a growth rate of 15% per year or more, as he plans to reach the $ 1 billion mark.
As for the future prospects, he said: “the second billion tends to come easier.”
