Another bank that has branches along the Grand Strand failed Friday and will reopen Monday under new ownership.

Whiteville, N.C.-based Waccamaw Bank, which has three branches in the Myrtle Beach area, was taken over Friday by Virginia-based First Community Bank in a deal brokered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Waccamaw Bank, the third bank with branches along the Grand Strand that has failed in the last couple of years, has struggled in recent years with capital losses as a result of the real estate market crash.

“During the last two years, Waccamaw Bank has been aggressively writing down weakened, real-estate-related loans, reducing expenses and increasing productivity,” the Waccamaw Bank board said in a news release. “This has in most cases addressed the new banking standards set by federal regulators and created a stronger bank. Despite its valiant efforts to restore its capital ratios, Waccamaw Bancshares has lost its hard-fought struggle to maintain ownership of the bank despite unyielding market conditions and a harsh industry environment.”

The N.C. Office of Commissioner of Banks appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as the receiver for Waccamaw Bank and the FDIC arranged a purchase and assumption agreement with First Community Bank.

Waccamaw Bank, which closed Friday, will reopen Monday as First Community Bank. Customers will have access to their money through the transition this weekend.

Waccamaw Bank -- which existed for 14 years with 16 branches, including two in Conway and one in Little River -- had $533.1 million in total assets and $472.7 million in total deposits as of March 31, according to the FDIC.

First Community Bancshares, Inc., headquartered in Bluefield, Va., is a $2.21 billion financial holding company and is the parent company of First Community Bank. First Community Bank has operated 56 locations in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Waccamaw Bank customers can go to the FDIC’s web site at www.fdic.gov/ or call the FDIC at 877-275-3342 for more information.

Waccamaw Bank was one of four banks across the country shut down Friday and the first to be shut down in North Carolina this year. About 28 U.S. banks have failed so far this year, according to the FDIC.

Waccamaw Bank is the third bank based in the area to fail since the financial meltdown, with Pawleys Island-based Plantation Federal closing in April and acquired by Charleston-based First Federal and Myrtle Beach-based Beach First National Bank failing in April 2010 and acquired by Bank of North Carolina, which continues to operate the former Beach First branches.

BNC acquired another failed bank Friday, Carolina Federal Savings Bank in Charleston.

Contact JANELLE FROST at 443-2404.