Uwharrie Capital lays out plan to repay TARP

Albemarle-based Uwharrie Capital Corp. plans to issue new preferred stock this quarter that will be used to pay back its federal bailout money it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the bank said Thursday in a quarterly report to shareholders.

"If we are going to be paying dividends on preferred stock we would prefer to pay them to you and your neighbors," CEO Roger Dick wrote in a letter. His bank had received $10.5 million.

"An important benefit of refinancing the Treasury’s preferred stock is that instead of the dividend going out of our communities to Washington, it will directly benefit local market residents, creating our own economic 'stimulus' if you will."

The bank will join a number of local banks exiting the U.S. Treasury's program that began during the financial crisis. Several, including BNC Bancorp and Yadkin Valley Financial, had theirs auctioned off.

The U.S. Treasury said Wednesday that it would auction off the TARP investment remaining in Charlotte-based Bank of Commerce and Lincolnton-based Carolina Trust Bank.