Beach Bank Taken Over By Feds

By FITSNews || The global financial crisis came home to South Carolina last week when federal regulators shut down Myrtle Beach-based Beach First National Bank – the first bank based in the Palmetto State to be shuttered during the ongoing recession.

According to The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News, the U.S. Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as the receiver for Beach First National Bank after the agency discovered “unsafe and unsound practices.” The bank reopened Monday morning as a branch of the Bank of North Carolina.

Forty-two banks have failed already this year the U.S. after a record 140 closed their doors in 2009 – but Beach First National’s failure is the first in South Carolina since 1999.

The chairman of the board at Beach First?

That would be S.C. Sen. Ray “The Dentist Fairy” Cleary.