The South Financial Group Declares Cash Dividends on Common Stock and Preferred Stock

The South Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSFG) announced that its Board of Directors has declared a second quarter 2009 cash dividend in the amount of $0.01 per common share. This dividend will be paid on May 1, 2009 to common shareholders of record as of April 15, 2009.

Also, TSFG’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $25.00 per share on its Mandatory Convertible Non-cumulative Preferred Stock (Series 2008ND-V, Series 2008ND-NV, Series 2008D-V, and Series 2008D-NV). This amount is based on a rate per annum of 10% and is payable on May 1, 2009 to preferred stock shareholders of record as of April 15, 2009.

In addition, TSFG’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $12.50 per share on its Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock (Series 2008-T) issued to the U.S. Treasury Department under its voluntary Capital Purchase Program. This amount is based on a rate per annum of 5% and is payable on May 15, 2009 to the preferred stock shareholder of record as of April 30, 2009.

General Information

The South Financial Group is the largest publicly-traded bank holding company headquartered in South Carolina and ranks among the top 50 U.S. commercial bank holding companies in total assets. At December 31, 2008, it had approximately $13.6 billion in total assets and 180 branch offices in Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. TSFG operates Carolina First Bank, which conducts banking operations in North Carolina and South Carolina (as Carolina First Bank), in Florida (as Mercantile Bank), and on the Internet (as Bank CaroLine). At December 31, 2008, approximately 45% of TSFG’s total customer deposits were in South Carolina, 41% were in Florida, and 14% were in North Carolina. Investor information is available at www.thesouthgroup.com.