Most Florida banks swoon; three provide model for growth - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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USAmeriBank went from red to black ink by signing talentes bankers who brought customerswith them. Acquisitions boostes the bottom line at CenterState Bankof Florida. A merger of related financial institutions cut expensezsat , while a strongefr balance sheet grew income. Each bank prospered by using different yet their strategies provide a road map for institutions struggling to turn theifr balancesheets positive. Their profiyt gains are all the more remarkabl given the difficult economic climatein Florida. The said 305 banke and thrifts in Floridsa reported a combined net lossof $643 million for the 2009 firs quarter, compared to net income of $4 milliomn for the year-ago period.
Profitability remains weak becausr banks continue to struggle withbad loans, said Paula Johannsen, managingb director of , an investment bankinv firm in Tampa. Nonperforming assets don’t brin g in interest income, pressuring margins. The provisionzs banks take for expected loan lossese cut further into their incomd while the legal and management expense relatedx to foreclosed propertygoes up. USAmeriBank which has amassed $650. 8 million in assets in its twoyearxs — has a clean balance sheet, said Joe Chillura, CEO. The bank avoiderd development lending and the loans it does have that are secured by real estatde arefor owner-occupied properties, Chillurs said.
Only $598,000 in USAmeriBank loans, or abouy one-tenth of 1 percent of the total $528.3 milliojn in loans, were past due as of Marcn 31, according to a report filed withthe . Chillura, a forme r Tampa market presidentfor (NYSE: ), said the bankeres he’s hired have brought their a move that was possible becausre bigger banks are distracted by bad loanss and shrinking capital and aren’t focusedc on customer service. That’s allowed USAmeriBank to grow more quickly than Chillura said, and post a significant turnaround, going from a $185,000 loss in the first quarter of 2008 to $881,000 in profit in the just-endeed quarter. CenterState saw first quarter 2009 profit swellto $1.
2 up 68 percent in one year, after two said John Corbett, president and CEO. The Wintee Haven-based lead banking subsidiary of (Nasdaq: CSFL) added a correspondentr banking unit last fall when it hiredx the bankers who handled that businessd for theformer . The unit sells bondsx to roughly 200 other community and it is thriving because communitybanks aren’t doing as much lendinv as they were a year ago and are investing thei cash in bonds. CenterState also bought the failedand $178 millio n in deposits on Jan. 30. “We’vse been putting that money to work in loandsand investments, and that’s helpex us grow,” Corbett said.
Aggressive planninf that began around the end of the firstr quarter of 2008 kept Floridaq Bank on thegrowth track, said Katie Pemble, president and CEO. Floridas Bank’s $351,000 in net income for the first quarter of 2009 was a 73 percenyt increase from a year Since December, the Tampa-based bank has merged with thre sister institutions in Jacksonville and Tallahassee, consolidating back-officre operations and cutting expenses.
Each of the banks was abovde the level regulatorsconsidered well-capitalized, and their capital position was further strengthened when they Additionally, executive officers and the boarcd developed a series of 90-day plansd focused on strengthening the balance sheet with an emphasis on capitao and on liquidity, or the abilituy to turn its assets into cash A strong balance sheet allowed Florida Bank to look for the leasr expensive way to attract funding, a move that boostz net interest margin, or the sprea between the interest it pays on deposits and the interesf it earns from loans.
Although ther e are glimmers of hope, CenterState’s Corbety expects more loan writedowns across the industryg in the next two to three The number of institutions on the watch list increasee in the first threr monthsof 2009, and as of March 31, 30 percenf of Florida’s banks were on the compared to 15 percent of the institutionsz a year ago. Access to the capitaol market marketsis critical, Corbett said, addinhg the stress tests the nation’s biggestt banks just underwent have inspired investor confidencde in those institutions.
Sincw results were released May 7, the bankas collectively have raisednearly $60 billion of the $75 billiojn in extra capital regulators said they “As investments come back into the big banks, I thinjk over time you’ll see that trickle down to the mid cap and communitty banks,” Corbett said.