SCHAEFER CARPENTER PROMOTED TO SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, RETAIL BANKING MANAGER

By press@firstreliance.com July 5, 2023 in News

Schaefer Carpenter, Senior Vice President, Retail Banking Manager

First Reliance Bank announces that Schaefer Carpenter has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Retail Banking Manager. He manages the daily operations and staffing of 11 retail banking offices in South Carolina and North Carolina.

Rick Saunders, Chief Executive Officer of First Reliance Bank, shared, “Schaefer’s leadership is noteworthy. As a recipient of the bank’s Culture Coin, he portrays living the bank’s core values and delivering on our brand purpose to make things BETTER.”

Ben Brazell, Executive Vice President Retail Banking, said, “Schaefer meticulously manages mergers, team efforts, and daily banking efforts.”

Schaefer earned a B.S. in Finance from The University of South Carolina. During his career, he furthered his education at the South Carolina Bankers School, the RMA Commercial Lending School (East Carolina University), and the FDIC Examiner School (Washington, DC).

Money Mules – A Growing Problem

By press@firstreliance.com July 5, 2023 in Blog

In the 2018 release of “The Mule,” starring Clint Eastwood as Earl Stone, a 90-year-old man who is broke, alone, and facing foreclosure of his business. Earl is offered a job that requires him to drive. While that should be easy enough, Earl doesn’t know that he had signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. The movie was based on The New York Times article "The Sinaloa Cartel's 90-Year-Old Drug Mule" by Sam Dolnick. Inspired by the true story of Leo Sharp, an 80-year-old World War II veteran, Sharp became the world's oldest and most prolific drug mule for the Sinaloa Cartel.

Money mules and crime have long been one and the same, and financial institutions have been working to prevent them for a very long time. First Reliance Bank knows of the dangers and is aggressive in our efforts to thwart it. One important effort ...