Mount Pleasant-based owner of Tidelands Bank narrows loss in 2012

The owner of Tidelands Bank said it fourth quarter loss jumped from the year-earlier period, but its deficit for all of 2012 narrowed considerably as the company set aside less money to cover bad loans.

Mount Pleasant-based Tidelands Bancshares Inc lost about $1.14 million for the October-December period, compared to a $622,000 loss for the last three months of 2011, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission

For the year, the bank owner lost $4.1 million. The company had a loss of $10 million for 2011.

Tidelands attributed the smaller deficit to a $7.6 million reduction in loan-loss reserve contributions last year compared to 2011. That money is subtracted from any profits. Tidelands contributed about $3 million to its reserves last year.

All of the loss figures include quarterly dividend payments the company owes the U.S. Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Tidelands raised nearly $15 million around the height of the 2008 financial crisis by selling stock to the federal government under TARP.

The bank operates seven locations serving Charleston, Dorchester, Berkeley, Horry and Beaufort counties.