COLUMBIA - A Senate Finance subcommittee has approved tax breaks for banks that are similar to tax incentives other industries already receive.

The breaks are needed for a deal involving South Financial Group, which recently announced it would add 600 jobs as it expands its corporate headquarters in Greenville.

South Financial, the parent company of Carolina First Bank, is spending $100 million on a new facility.

The legislation says South Carolina banks are eligible for incentives for new jobs, new construction or the establishment of corporate headquarters.

"For some reason the banking industry got left out" when the state created similar incentives for other businesses in the early 1990s, said Senate Banking and Insurance Chairman David Thomas, R-Fountain Inn. "We're not asking anything more than other industries already have."

The legislation now heads to the full Senate Finance Committee.