The Gables Financial Services Community

As a highly affluent community, Coral Gables has dozens of bank branches, as well as numerous offices for firms that provide wealth management services. It is also the home base for the headquarters of a half dozen commercial banks and four wealth management companies. All of these are profiled in the following pages, with information on assets, key personnel and locations. On this page we also list the full panoply of branches for both these and other banks (based elsewhere) that serve the Gables community. To give you an idea of their local presence by proxy, we list the deposits at their local branches in Coral Gables.

AMERANT/CORAL GABLES

220 Alhambra Circle $4 billion

ATHEM BANK & TRUST/LOUISIANA

1 Alhambra Plaza $3 million

APOLLO BANK/MIAMI

1826 Ponce de Leon Blvd. $43 million

BAC FLORIDA BANK/CORAL GABLES

169 Miracle Mile $1.9 billion

BANESCO USA/CORAL GABLES

150 Alhambra Circle $926 million

BANK OF AMERICA/N. CAROLINA

2308 Ponce de Leon Blvd. $886 million

2600 S. Douglas Rd. $191 million

BANK OZK/ARKANSAS

1220 Ponce de Leon Blvd. $60 million

BEAL BANK/NEVADA

2610 Ponce de Leon Blvd. $23 million

BRANCH BANKING

What a journey it’s been for Amerant, the Coral Gables-based bank that now holds $8 billion in assets, more than any other bank headquartered in the City Beautiful. Amerant began in 1979 as Gold Coast National Bank, then became Commercebank, and was later acquired by Venezuela’s Mercantil group. Ultimately it was spun off from Mercantil group, and now functions on its own. Since August 2018, its stock trades on the Nasdaq exchange.

Amerant today has 27 branches: 19 in South Florida, including three opened since last year in Miami Lakes, Boca Raton and Delray Beach, as well as eight more in the Houston area of Texas. It also has offices handling commercial real estate loans in New York and Dallas.

Roughly 42 percent of the bank’s deposits come from Venezuelans, many who have been loyal customers for decades, says Millar Wilson, the president and CEO who grew up in the oil-producing South American nation. Growth in recent years has come from U.S. domestic clientele.

Amerant entered Texas in the early 2000s, partly to follow the oil industry, and has expanded there mainly in the last five years. “We saw an opportunity, especially because Houston is very open and welcoming to newcomers,” says Wilson. Longer term, the bank may consider Texas expansion to the Austin or San Antonio areas. Amerant reported $51.3 million in net income in 2019, up 12 percent from the previous year. Domestic deposits rose $120.5 million, with much of that growth in funds handled online.

FOUNDED: 1979, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MERCANTIL BANK

LOCATION: 220 ALHAMBRA CIRCLE

ASSETS: $8 BILLION AS OF MARCH 31, 2020

KEY PERSONNEL: MILLAR WILSON, VICE CHAIRMAN AND CEO

What started as Popular Bank of Hialeah nearly half a century ago is now BAC Florida Bank, a unique institution that holds $2.3 billion in assets and employs 175 people – all from one branch on Miracle Mile. It’s known for serving Latin American customers, including many who bank online from overseas.

BAC is owned by Central America’s Grupo Pellas, a regional powerhouse started in 1877 in Nicaragua that has operations in agribusiness, health, trade and finance. But a Brazilian banking giant is in the process of buying BAC in a roughly $500 million deal expected to close this year.

Brazil’s Bradesco – with more than $320 billion in assetshopes the BAC purchase can expand U.S. access for its Brazilian clients, helping them hold deposits in dollars and get loans for U.S. real estate, among other activities. Already, Brazilians account for some 20 percent of BAC’s residential real estate loans, says BAC president and CEO Julio Rojas.

Rojas says BAC takes pride in its diversity: More than 60 percent of officers are women and staff come from more than 22 nations. There’s a culture of caring and teamwork: More than 35 percent of staff has been with the bank 10 years or more. Results are strong: After-tax net profit hit a record $31.4 million in 2019.

After the purchase, Rojas expects BAC to keep its current team and approach: Small, service-oriented and tech-focused. But BAC’s location is set to change in roughly two years to The Plaza Coral Gables on Ponce de Leon Boulevard. The biggest challenge longer-term: Non-bank companies dubbed “fintechs” expanding in mortgage lending and other activities. Says Rojas, “Banks have to be innovative.”

FOUNDED: 1973

ASSETS: $2.3 BILLION AS OF MARCH 31, 2020

LOCATION: 169 MIRACLE MILE

KEY PERSONNEL: JULIO ROJAS, PRESIDENT AND CEO

Banesco USA is part of the Banesco international finance group based in Venezuela and active in some 15 countries, mostly in the Americas. The group was founded in 1977 as the Venezuelan Agroindustrial Bank. Its biggest bank asset nowadays is Spain-based Abanca, with nearly $64 billion in assets.

The U.S. bank serves many Venezuelan and Latin American clients, safeguarding their deposits and also lending cash for commercial real estate and other activities in the United States. Last year, Banesco USA expanded into two new lending areas: Trade finance and loans to foreign nationals for U.S. residential real estate, when it bought Brickell Bank in downtown Miami. Brickell Bank had one branch, roughly $400 million in assets and also served many Latin American clients.

Today, Banesco USA operates five branches in South Florida: Coral Gables, Doral, Hialeah, Brickell and Aventura, plus one branch in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in San Juan. Mario Oliva took over as CEO in January, replacing Jorge Salas, who helmed the bank for six years. Salas oversaw strong growth and record returns in 2019: $14.2 million in earnings, plus a 28 percent gain in deposits to $1.4 billion and a 40 percent jump in gross loans to $1.34 billion, both compared with the previous year.

Like other bankers, Oliva now faces challenges because of the U.S. recession. In an April report, Fitch Ratings mentioned concerns over Banesco USA’s “elevated exposure to commercial real estate and the travel and leisure segments,” areas hit hard by the ongoing pandemic.

FOUNDED: 2006

ASSETS: $1.8 BILLION AS OF MARCH 31, 2020 LOCATION: 150 ALHAMBRA CIRCLE

KEY PERSONNEL: MARIO OLIVA, PRESIDENT AND CEO

Imagine growing a Miami bank from $3 billion to over $16 billion in assets in a single decade – and right after the Great Recession. Jorge Gonzalez has done just that, heading up City National Bank of Florida since 2009, as it changed hands, made acquisitions and expanded across the state.

Today, City National ranks as the second largest bank based in Florida, employing some 900 people and operating 31 branches, mainly in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties but also in the Sarasota, Naples, Tampa and Orlando areas. It’s among the country’s 100 largest banks.

Growth has come partly through acquisitions. In 2015, Chile’s Banco de Credito and Inversiones (Bci) bought City National for $882 million, marking the largest single investment by a Chilean company in the U.S. With that backing, City National in 2018 bought Miami-based TotalBank for roughly $529 million, adding some 17 branches and assets near $3 billon. And last year, the bank announced plans to buy Miami’s Executive National Bank, a deal set to add almost $500 million more in assets.

City National is known for deep community roots. It ranks high for lending through the Community Reinvestment Act and works with many nonprofits. Gonzalez says he’s expanding Florida’s iconic bank as “the Big Bank Alternative, able to provide the same products and solutions as the biggest banks, but still small enough to deliver a client experience based on personal relationships and local decision making.” Last year, City National moved its executive offices from Miami to the Gables.

FOUNDED: 1946, AS NORTH SHORE BANK

ASSETS: $16.2 BILLION AS OF MARCH 31, 2020 LOCATION: 2855 S. LE JEUNE RD.

KEY PERSONNEL: JORGE GONZALEZ, VICE CHAIRMAN AND CEO