Sharonview FCU Buys 2 Bank Branches on S.C. Coast

Sharonview Federal Credit Union announced Monday it has completed its purchase of two bank branches in an affluent and fast-growing section of South Carolina’s coast.

Bank OZK based in Little Rock, Ark. ($27.2 billion in assets as of Dec. 31) sold its Beaufort County branches: A 6,774-square-foot branch on Hilton Head Island and a 9,500-square-foot branch in Bluffton, seven miles to the west on the mainland. The bank said Jan. 21 that it expected a gain of $4 million to $5 million from the sale.

Sharonview ($1.6 billion, 94,527 members) is based in Indian Land, S.C., just south of Charlotte. The purchase, announced last July, puts Sharonview in one of the state’s fastest growing areas, Bluffton, and one of its most affluent, Hilton Head Island.

“We’ve had expansion on our minds for years,” Sharonview President/CEO Bill Partin said. “Our wish list included Hilton Head, but it had to be the right opportunity. When we got word last year of two Bank OZK branches possibly being for sale, we knew: This is what we’ve been waiting for.”

“We knew this demographic was interested in retirement planning services, mortgages, car loans and credit cards,” Partin continued. “We have all the right products to offer. Everything aligned,” he said.

The two branches have combined deposits of $112 million and a small loan portfolio.

The purchase of these branches represented Sharonview’s expansion into business services. The credit union will begin serving the Bank OZK business customers who have chosen membership with Sharonview. Business services will open to other markets later this spring.

Sharonview’s news release said all seven employees from the two branches were offered jobs at Sharonview, and all accepted. Two new roles, including a mortgage loan officer, were created to serve this market, and those are being filled by Sharonview employees.

Both branches have lobbies, drive-thru windows and drive-up ATMs.

The number of credit union branches had been rising slowly from at least 2016 to 2019, but NCUA data showed a drop last year. It lists 21,515 branches (including headquarters) in December, 449 fewer than a year earlier. South Carolina had 348 branches at year’s end, two fewer than a year ago.

As of Dec. 31, NCUA data showed Sharonview had 17 branches, as well as its headquarters.

It closed a branch in Bridgewater, N.J., last July because it was located inside a building closed by pharmaceuticals manufacturer, Sanofi, one of Sharonview’s Select Employer Groups. Those members now must bank online or via mobile apps.

Sharonview is the third largest credit union based in South Carolina behind Founders Federal Credit Union ($3.1 billion, 223,140 members) based in Lancaster, 26 miles south of Fort Mill and South Carolina Federal Credit Union based in North Charleston ($2.2 billion, 168,638 members).

But the bulk of Sharonview’s branch weight is in North Carolina. As of December, it had 11 branches in North Carolina and six branches in South Carolina — most of them in western South Carolina.

Hilton Head Island and Bluffton were Bank OZK’s only South Carolina branches. Bank OZK, which changed its name in 2018 from Bank of the Ozarks, ended 2020 with 255 branches and other offices.