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Coral Gables-based Professional Bank has been busy this year. In February, it sold nearly $60 million in stock on Wall Street, listing its shares on the Nasdaq exchange. This spring, it completed its merger with its neighbor across the street, Marquis Bank. And since coronavirus hit, it’s signed up hundreds of customers for government loans, approving more than $215 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans to date, says Abel Iglesias, president and COO.

A group of investors led by local physician Lawrence Schimmel started the bank 12 years ago, aiming to offer fellow professionals the quality customer service typical in private banking and sometimes hard to find in large commercial banks. Today, Professional has seven branches: Coral Gables, Aventura, Boca Raton, South Miami, Dadeland, Palm Beach Gardens and Fort Lauderdale, plus two loan production offices in Doral and Wellington. It plans to close Marquis Bank’s Gables office, as the neighbors further integrate. Staff now nears 185 people, serving a broad range of clients from professionals to small business, corporations and retirees.

Iglesias sees banking becoming more digital as a result of coronavirus, yet it remains a people business. “The client wants to know they can interact with the bank digitally and remotely,” he says. “But they also want to know that if they have a problem, they can pick up the phone and get one of us on the line and get a human being to take care of their problems or to listen to whatever their needs are.”

FOUNDED: 2008

ASSETS: $1.7 BILLION AS OF MARCH 31, 2020

LOCATION: 396 ALHAMBRA CIRCLE

KEY PERSONNEL: ABEL IGLESIAS, PRESIDENT AND COO

Banks in South Florida increasingly need scale to defray the costs of complying with new regulations and deploying new technologies, and Sunstate Bank is embracing the challenge. The small bank began a generation ago as Sofisa Bank of Florida, owned by a family in Brazil that got its start in the shoe business. In 2007, it changed its name to Sunstate to reflect its priority to serve Florida and make clear it had no ties with Brazil’s Sofisa Bank. It also added the tagline “State of the Art” banking to underscore its widening digital reach.

Two years ago, Sunstate grew by purchasing the one-branch Intercontinental Bank, headquartered in West Miami, for $28.5 million. Today, the community bank has three branches: Its Palmetto Bay headquarters, Coral Gables and West Miami. It serves a mix of both international and domestic customers, and like many small banks in South Florida, lends mainly for U.S. real estate transactions, says Lloyd DeVaux, president and CEO. “About half of our business is overseas clients, who are coming to Miami to invest in real estate, buying second homes and buying incomeproducing properties, and are looking for a place they can keep their money,” says DeVaux.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Sunstate was negotiating to buy a second bank in greater Miami. That deal has been put on hold. “I hope to do another acquisition next year. The next one probably will put us over $1 billion in assets,” says DeVaux. Meanwhile, Sunstate continues to upgrade technology to become even more digital.

FOUNDED: 1999

ASSETS: $448 MILLION AS OF MARCH 31, 2020

LOCATION: 2901 S. LE JEUNE RD.

KEY PERSONNEL: LLOYD DEVAUX, PRESIDENT AND CEO