Atlantic Bancshares (ATBA)

Description:

Atlantic Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in South Carolina in June 2005 for purposes of operating as a bank holding company. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, Atlantic Community Bank, commenced business on January 26, 2006, and is mainly engaged in the business of accepting savings, demand, and time deposits and providing mortgage, consumer and commercial loans to the general public. The Company offers a range of lending services, including real estate, commercial, and equity-line and consumer loans to individuals, small- to medium-sized businesses, and professional concerns that are located in or conduct a substantial portion of their business in the bank's market area. The Company provides real estate loans like Commercial Real Estate Loans which generally have terms of five years or less, Construction and Development Real Estate Loans which generally is limited to 18 months, Residential Real Estate Loans generally have longer terms, up to 30 years, and Commercial Loans which are typically made for a term of five years or less. It offers a full range of deposit services that are typically available in most banks and savings and loan associations including: checking accounts, NOW accounts, commercial accounts, savings accounts, and other time deposits of various types, ranging from daily money market accounts to longer-term certificates of deposit. The Company also offers cashier's checks, banking by mail, direct deposit of payroll and social security checks, United States Savings Bonds, and traveler's checks. It is associated with the Honor, Star, Presto, and Cirrus ATM networks that may be used by the bank's customers throughout the country. The banking business is very competitive. The Company competes as a financial intermediary with other commercial banks, community banks, savings banks, credit unions, finance companies, and money market mutual funds operating in the Bluffton area and surrounding communities. Some competitors are large super-regional and regional banks, like Wachovia Bank, Bank of America, and SunTrust Bank, and others are more established community banks, like Coastal States Bank, Liberty Savings Bank FSB, First Federal S&L of Charleston, Beach First National Bank, Tidelands Bank, Bank Meridian, Ameris Bank, Woodlands Bank, First South Bank, and Low Country National Bank. Both Atlantic Bancshares, Inc., and Atlantic Community Bank are subject to extensive state and federal banking regulations that impose restrictions on and provide for general regulatory oversight of their operations.