Profile: The South Financial Group, Inc. (TSFG.O)

The South Financial Group, Inc. (TSFG) is a bank holding company. TSFG operates principally through Carolina First Bank, a South Carolina-chartered commercial bank, which conducts banking operations in South Carolina and North Carolina (as Carolina First), in Florida (as Mercantile), and on the Internet (as Bank CaroLine). TSFG’s subsidiaries provide a range of financial services, including deposits, loans, treasury management, full-service brokerage and investments, business and personal insurance, trust, investment management, and financial planning. As of December 31, 2008, TSFG conducted business through 82 branch offices in South Carolina, 71 in Florida, and 27 in North Carolina. As of December 31, 2008, it had $13.6 billion in assets, $10.2 billion in loans, $9.4 billion in deposits, and $1.6 billion in shareholders’ equity. In September 2009, the Company completed the sale of its three ancillary businesses: Carolina First Bank's merchant processing portfolio; Koss Olinger, a financial planning group, and American Pensions, Inc., a retirement plan administrator.

Subsidiary Bank

TSFG manages its banking operations by dividing its franchise into Carolina First (North and South Carolina) and Mercantile (Florida),and then into twelve banking markets run by market presidents. This structure allows TSFG to operate like a community bank focusing on personal customer service. However, TSFG’s subsidiary bank can also offer a range of products and services of larger regional banks. Carolina First focuses its operations in the six principal market areas, including the Greenville, Spartanburg, and Anderson metropolitan area (located in the Upstate region of South Carolina); the Hendersonville and Asheville metropolitan area (located in the Western region of North Carolina); the Rock Hill, or greater South Charlotte, metropolitan area (located in the Piedmont region of South Carolina); the Columbia metropolitan area (located in the Midlands region of South Carolina); the Myrtle Beach, Georgetown, and Wilmington metropolitan areas (located in the North Coast of South Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina), and the Charleston and Hilton Head metropolitan areas (located in the South Coast of South Carolina).

Carolina First Bank operates (as Mercantile) in six Florida market areas, including the Jacksonville metropolitan area (located in the North East Florida region); the Gainesville metropolitan area (located in the North Central region); the Marion County area (located in the Mid Florida region); the Orlando metropolitan area (located in the Central Florida region); the Tampa Bay metropolitan area (located in the Tampa Bay region), and the Palm Beach County, Miami-Dade County, and Broward County area (located in the South Florida region). Carolina First Bank targets small business, middle market companies, and retail consumers in its market areas. Carolina First Bank provides a range of commercial and consumer banking services, including deposits and loans; treasury management; brokerage and investments, and wealth management and private banking.

Non-Bank Subsidiaries

TSFG has a number of non-bank subsidiaries. Bowditch Insurance Corporation and Lossing Insurance Agency are both property and casualty insurance companies operating in northern Florida. Lossing Insurance Agency is operated as a division of Bowditch Insurance Corporation. Carolina First Community Development Corporation (CFCDC) underwrites low-income community business loans. Olinger group of companies are a financial planning group based in Gainesville, Florida.

TSFG formed three real estate investment trust subsidiaries (REITs), which have issued preferred and debt securities to institutional investors as a means of raising regulatory capital. They do not engage in other activities apart from the internal management of their assets and liabilities. During the year ended December 31, 2008, TSFG dissolved one of its REITs. TSFG combined Gardner Associates, Inc., which operates an insurance agency business primarily in the Midlands area of South Carolina, with several of its smaller insurance subsidiaries to create South Group Insurance Services, Inc. Summit Title, LLC (Summit) is a title insurance agency.