Bank of South Carolina Corporation (BKSC): Marketing Mix Analysis [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're digging into Bank of South Carolina Corporation's playbook, trying to see how this community player is navigating late 2025. Honestly, their 4 Ps show a classic, effective model: they're doubling down on high-touch service across their six South Carolina offices while their disciplined pricing strategy is clearly working, driving a 4.33% Net Interest Margin in Q2 2025. It's a focused strategy, and I've broken down the Product, Place, Promotion, and Price details below so you can see the whole picture.

Bank of South Carolina Corporation (BKSC) - Marketing Mix: Product

The product element for Bank of South Carolina Corporation centers on delivering a full spectrum of financial services tailored to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses within its operating communities, which include Charleston, North Charleston, Summerville, Mt. Pleasant, James Island, and the West Ashley community. The Bank was organized with a commitment to personal service, lasting customer relationships, and attention to detail.

The core deposit franchise is a significant product offering, with 79% of total deposits classified as core deposits as of the third quarter of 2025. Within this core base, 34% of core deposits were core noninterest-bearing deposits in Q3 2025. The cost of total deposits for Q3 2025 was 1.80%.

The Bank of South Carolina Corporation offers a comprehensive suite of deposit products designed to meet various customer needs:

• Checking accounts, including non-interest-bearing options.
• Savings accounts.
• Certificates of Deposit (CDs).
• Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
• Retirement Accounts.

The lending product line is strategically diversified, focusing on generating deposits from all borrowers through a commercial lending strategy. The loan portfolio is structured across several key categories, indicating a strong focus on commercial and real estate assets, alongside consumer needs. As of September 30, 2025, the Bank reported total assets of $575,924 thousand USD. The loan portfolio composition includes:

Consumer credit products are also part of the offering, including credit cards and services like Merchant Credit Cards Services. Furthermore, the Bank provides home equity loans and lines of credit secured by the borrower's primary or secondary residence, building on the Mortgage Origination Department established in 1994.

The operational performance related to asset quality, a key characteristic of the loan product, showed strength; the percentage of loans past due for more than 30 days decreased to 0.29% as of June 30, 2025. The Bank's net interest margin (NIM) reached 4.33% for the second quarter of 2025, reflecting effective pricing strategy on its assets. For the quarter ended September 30, 2025, the Bank of South Carolina Corporation announced unaudited earnings of $2,143,640.

The emphasis remains on high-touch service, as evidenced by the Bank's long-standing philosophy, though digital capabilities like eCorp Internet Banking are available. The efficiency ratio improved to 57.97% as of June 30, 2025, suggesting disciplined expense management alongside product delivery. The commitment to shareholders is reflected in the dividend policy; the quarterly cash dividend declared in September 2025 was $0.23 per share, following a $0.21 per share dividend in June 2025 and a $0.19 per share dividend in March 2025.

Bank of South Carolina Corporation (BKSC) - Marketing Mix: Place

The Bank of South Carolina Corporation maintains a concentrated physical footprint across 6 offices in the South Carolina lowcountry. This distribution strategy focuses intently on the primary market area, which is the Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester county region. As of September 30, 2025, the institution supported this physical network with $509,140K in total deposits.

The physical distribution points are strategically placed within the core service area to ensure accessibility for its customer base, which is supported by 85 employees across the organization. The Bank of South Carolina Corporation's offices are situated in key population centers, complementing the core Charleston presence.

The distribution network is detailed below, showing the specific locations that make up the six-office structure:

To supplement this localized branch network, the digital channel via internet banking is used to extend the Bank of South Carolina Corporation's reach. This digital presence supports the balance sheet, which reported total assets of $580,303K (in thousands USD) as of the quarter ended June 30, 2025.

Key aspects of the Place strategy include:

• Concentration in the South Carolina lowcountry.
• Six physical locations serving core markets.
• Focus on Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties.
• Digital delivery supplementing branch access.
• Net Loans & Leases totaling $357,563K as of June 30, 2025.

Bank of South Carolina Corporation (BKSC) - Marketing Mix: Promotion

The core brand message for Bank of South Carolina Corporation centers on delivering personal service and cultivating lasting customer relationships. This philosophy, established since its founding in 1987, emphasizes responsiveness and attention to detail across the communities it serves. You see this commitment reflected in their continuous operation and focus on being the hometown bank of the South Carolina lowcountry.

Public relations efforts actively promote the bank's performance and stability. A key highlight for late 2025 is the recognition received from American Banker magazine. This serves as concrete evidence of operational excellence to the market.

Investor communications remain a key promotional channel, utilizing platforms like Cision for outreach to ensure timely dissemination of material news. This structured approach helps maintain transparency with shareholders trading on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol BKSC.

Management succession announcements are strategically deployed to reinforce the perception of stability and deep local commitment. For instance, the announcement on April 11, 2025, detailed that Douglas H. Sass plans to retire as Executive Vice President & Senior Lender on December 31, 2025. To ensure continuity, Robert M. Hollings, III was appointed to succeed Sass as senior lender effective January 1, 2026, and Jennifer A. Arato was appointed Chief Credit Officer, also effective January 1, 2026.

Shareholders are kept informed of financial strength through consistent dividend actions. You can track this commitment through the regular declaration of payments, signaling confidence in capital and earnings.

• Declared quarterly cash dividend (September 2025): $0.23 per share.
• This represented the 144th quarterly cash dividend paid to shareholders.
• Cash dividend increased by $0.06 per share, or 35%, in the past twelve months (as of September 2025).
• Average dividend growth rate for the past three years is 16.54%.

Bank of South Carolina Corporation (BKSC) - Marketing Mix: Price

The pricing element for Bank of South Carolina Corporation centers on generating strong returns through careful management of interest-earning assets and liabilities. This disciplined approach to pricing directly supports the profitability metrics you are tracking.

Disciplined pricing strategy drives a strong Net Interest Margin (NIM). The effectiveness of this strategy is clearly visible in the reported performance figures for 2025.

For the second quarter of 2025, the Net Interest Margin (NIM) reached 4.33%. This followed a prior quarter where the NIM also exceeded 4%, indicating sustained success in asset-liability management and loan pricing relative to funding costs.

The resulting profitability reflects this pricing discipline. The Return on Average Equity (ROAE) was reported at 14.03% for the nine months ended September 30, 2025. This compares favorably to the 13.50% ROAE reported for the same period in 2024.

Loan pricing is competitive enough to maintain robust demand. The President and Chief Executive Officer noted that loan demand across their markets remains robust, which is a direct indicator that their pricing structure is attractive to borrowers while still being profitable for Bank of South Carolina Corporation.

The commitment to shareholders, which is a component of the overall pricing/return strategy, has been demonstrated through consistent dividend increases. The Board of Directors raised the quarterly cash dividend to $0.23 per share in Q3 2025, payable October 31, 2025, to shareholders of record October 7, 2025. This was the second consecutive quarterly increase.

Here's a look at the recent quarterly dividend progression, showing the upward trend in shareholder returns:

The cash dividend has increased by $0.06 per share, or 35%, in the past twelve months leading up to the Q3 2025 declaration. This reflects the strength in earnings, which for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, totaled $2,143,640.

The pricing strategy, therefore, is calibrated to maximize Net Interest Income, evidenced by the $6.01 million in net interest income reported for the third quarter of 2025, while supporting a competitive dividend policy.

• Net Interest Margin (NIM) for Q2 2025: 4.33%.
• ROAE for nine months ended September 30, 2025: 14.03%.
• Latest declared quarterly cash dividend (Q3 2025): $0.23 per share.
• Total earnings for Q3 2025: $2,143,640.