First Community Corporation used its November investor presentation to review third-quarter performance, its January acquisition of Signature Bank of Georgia and a planned change in leadership at its banking subsidiary. The presentation also highlighted loan growth, the company’s expansion into metro Atlanta and several balance-sheet measures.
The leadership handoff is scheduled for Jan. 1, 2027: Ted Nissen is set to retire as First Community Bank CEO and from its board, while Vaughan Dozier and Drew Painter are to take on the bank’s top roles. Parent-company CEO Mike Crapps will remain in his current position.
Leadership transition
- Nissen is scheduled to retire from the bank and its board on Dec. 31, 2026. He will remain as a consultant and adviser to help with the transition.
- Dozier is to become First Community Bank’s CEO and join its board on Jan. 1, 2027.
- Painter is to become the bank’s president and join its board on the same date.
- Crapps will continue as president and CEO of First Community Corporation. His stated focus includes corporate governance, investor relations, strategy, balance-sheet and capital management, and leadership development.
- The transition follows earlier changes: Nissen became bank CEO and joined the board in July 2024, while Painter and Dozier became co-chief commercial and retail banking officers in January 2024.
Signature Bank acquisition
- First Community completed its acquisition of Signature Bank of Georgia on Jan. 8, 2026, and converted the bank’s systems on March 13.
- The deal established a presence in the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell market and added government-guaranteed and Small Business Administration lending operations. The presentation cited SBA lending as a source of fee income.
- First Community said the acquisition supports two strategic priorities: entering an additional growth market and expanding its SBA-related business. It also identified opportunities to extend its wealth-management and residential-mortgage services to a wider customer base.
- The company described the transaction as producing about a 2.2-year earnback period for tangible book-value dilution and an approximately 35-basis-point improvement in its tangible common equity-to-assets ratio. Those pro forma figures were presented as illustrative and remain subject to final purchase-accounting adjustments.
Growth, assets and capital
- At Sept. 30, 2026, First Community reported $2.4 billion in total assets and 23 banking offices. The company described itself as the largest community bank in South Carolina’s Midlands.
- Loan growth for 2026 through Sept. 30 was $103.7 million, or a 10.6% annualized rate, excluding $195.7 million associated with the Signature acquisition. The presentation showed growth of $42.4 million in the first quarter, $29.1 million in the second and $32.1 million in the third.
- In the third quarter, commercial real estate accounted for 54.5% of loan growth, commercial and industrial loans for 10.3%, residential mortgages for 8.7% and other categories for 26.5%.
- The loan-portfolio yield shown in the presentation rose from 5.32% to 6.08% across the periods displayed.
- The presentation put commercial real estate at 305.2% of risk-based capital in the third quarter of 2026. It also showed principal cash flows of $86.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2026 at a weighted average rate of 6.14%, and $287.1 million in 2027 at 5.71%; the figures excluded prepayment estimates.
- For the investment portfolio, the latest figures shown were a 3.36% yield, an accumulated other comprehensive loss of $22.9 million, a 5.3-year average life and a 3.5-year effective duration.
Shareholder returns
- First Community said it had paid dividends for 99 consecutive quarters.
- The presentation cited a 2.05% dividend yield, based on the Oct. 28, 2026 closing share price of $33.15.
The changes leave First Community Corporation’s top executive in place while shifting leadership of the bank to Dozier and Painter. The Signature acquisition has added a Georgia market and SBA-related operations; the presentation also showed continued loan growth when the acquired business is excluded.