September 25, 2017, Florence, S.C. – First Reliance Bank recently announced they have entered into an agreement to acquire Independence National Bank a locally-owned community bank headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina which has approximately $90.0 million in assets, $76.1 million in deposits and three branch locations. The acquisition is expected to close early in the first quarter of 2018. “We are a community bank buying a community bank with the goal to continue delivering the community banking model of developing strong relationships with our customers and providing an incredible experience.  We are passionate about our purpose ‘to make the lives of our customers better’.  We believe that if you achieve delivering your purpose and treat customers right, then financial results will follow.” said Rick Saunders, President and CEO. “We welcome our new customers and associates created by this merger and look forward to serving them with excellent customer service our brand of banking.  First Reliance has always been a strong community partner in all our markets and we are excited to support the communities in Greenville.” First Reliance has a clear business model which it delivers through a “hometown banking” brand, strong culture and core values of community banking.  Customers seem to like this brand of banking as the bank has a high 95% Customer Satisfaction Score. Associates are passionate about delivering day in and day out on its tagline ‘There’s More to Banking than Money^®’. The bank plans to continue to grow organically and to look for expansion opportunities throughout the Southeast. It recently announced expansion into the Summerville, South Carolina market and has entered the Winston-Salem and Lexington North Carolina market with a Loan Production Office.  As the bank grows, its operational areas primarily located in Florence, will continue to expand to support its business strategies.

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