Related Party Transactions

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Party Transactions

NOTE 18 – Related Party Transactions

Certain directors, executive officers, and companies with which they are affiliated, are clients of and have banking transactions with the Company in the ordinary course of business. These loans were made on substantially the same terms, including interest rates and collateral, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with persons not related to the lender.

A summary of loan transactions with directors and executive officers, including their affiliates is as follows:

	For the years ended December 31,
(dollars in thousands)	2022			2021
Balance, beginning of year	$	8,790			5,790
New loans		21,010			11,629
Less loan payments		(12,583	)		(8,629	)
Balance, end of year	$	17,217			8,790

Deposits by executive officers and directors and their related interests at December 31, 2022 and 2021, were $6.5 million and $11.8 million, respectively.

The Company has a land lease with a director on the property for a branch office, with monthly payments of $9,120. In addition, the Company periodically enters into various consulting agreements with the director for development, administration and advisory services related to the purchase of property and construction of current and future branch office sites, including the development of the new bank headquarters in Greenville, South Carolina. There were no payments to the director for these services during 2022 and payments totaling $300,000 were made to the director for these services during the year ended December 31, 2021.

The Company received rent payments from a company of which a director is a private investor and chairman of the board. Rent received totaled $79,000 and $104,000 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively. As part of the lease agreement with the company, $86,000 was paid to the company for a tenant upfit allowance during the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.

The Company is of the opinion that the lease payments and consulting fees represent market costs that could have been obtained in similar “arms length” transactions.