For Immediate Release
Thursday, 25 January 2001
$75 MILLION … GOING, GOING … SOLD !
Columbia, SC
– State Treasurer Grady L. Patterson, Jr. held South Carolina’s third-ever Internet Auction of state deposits, today. "We’re only the second state in the nation to auction funds on-line – this has been such a huge success that pretty soon most other states will follow suit," Mr. Patterson said. "BidSC is completely surpassing all expectations, and everyone will benefit. More South Carolina financial institutions participated than ever before."Patterson continued: "We found a way to take advantage of new technology to better distribute state funds. Now, banks can get the money they need when they need it to better serve their community, and BidSC gets the state better returns on those investments.
"In just thirty minutes, the State of South Carolina generated $2.02 million in interest earnings. That is $105,294.40 more than the average rate," Mr. Patterson remarked. "Financial institutions are just learning how to take advantage of this great opportunity and as they become more comfortable with BidSC we expect to continue realizing outstanding returns."
Bidding started at the 6-month Treasury Bill rate of 5.130%. The highest bid was 6.190% and the average bid (weighted) was 5.4331%.
"In a tight year – like this is shaping up to be – the extra five to six hundred thousand dollars in interest earnings that BidSC produces will mean a great deal to the people of South Carolina."
State Treasurer Patterson concluded: "This is a huge step forward in public finance and, from the looks of it, BidSC is only going to get better. BidSC has brought South Carolina $410,000.00 in just three auctions by harnessing new technology, some financial common sense, and utilizing market forces and philosophies."
Final bids for individual banks can be viewed at the BidSC investment auction Website by clicking on "results". 126 total bids were received and 79 were "in the money".
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For more information, contact:
David A. Adams, 803/734-0380