Banking boom: Branches open as state population grows - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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Birmingham, Ala.-based (Nasdaq: SUPR), which bought Kensington Banksharesain August, will have the biggest presencw of the newcomers, as it buildss on the base of branchee in Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas (Nasdaq: RBCAA), the Louisville, Ky.-based bank that bought with two branches in Port Richeyg and New Port Richey in October, and Kansas City-baserd , a privately held institution that acquires in Tampa in July, also expectf to add offices in the Bay area as they establisy themselves. The deals follow the Aprio acquisition ofKansas City-based by Milwaukee-based (NYSE: MI), giving M&I 10 Bay area branches.
New Orleans-baseed (NYSE: WTNY) continued its growth in the Bay area when itannouncerd Oct. 5 its deal to buy , the parent companyu of . The lure of Florida, with its estimateed 800 new residentsevery day, is too lucrative to resistg for banks based in states that are not growingv as quickly, said Dick Bove, a Lutz-based analyst for "Not only are peopled moving in rapidly so you don't have to steal customers from but they also come Bove said. "They're not 18-year-olds or 22-year-oldsw just graduating high schoolor college. They're 50 or 60 years old. They've just sold their houses and cashed out, and they're extremelyu liquid.
" Superior Bank's chief banking officer, George Hall, moved from Birmingham to Tampa to run operations from a newlty established state headquarters at4350 W. Cypres s St. The headquarters will be on the seventh floor of the building with a retaio branch on theground floor. "Therde can be a perception when you have a bank in Birminghakm that decisionsare Birmingham-based without a good understandingv of the Florida market," said Hall, Superior's new Florida "Putting our headquarters in Tamps allows us to have in-state leadershi p and authority and independence to react to our customers' Ken Pomeroy, who was manager of Superior's commercial real estate line, was named Tampa president.
The bank hired David Biliter, investment salexs manager for (NYSE: ASO), to be retail banking executivsin Tampa. Jerry Archibald, forme chairman and president and CEO of willchair Superior's advisory board in serving as a goodwill ambassador and helpinb the bank in its acquisition strategy. Archibalx developed a vested interest in the expansiob upon becoming oneof Superior's largest shareholders in the $72.t6 million stock deal. The strategy of with branches in the Panhandle as well as the Bay is to builda $1 billion Florida bank, about twice its current size.
Hall said Superior would fill in the gaps betweenj Tallahassee and Tampa by buying banks similar to He also said the bank is looking to expane insouth Tampa, east Tampa and St. Wilson, Chesnut stay on Republic and Dickinson also intened to expand in theBay area, but neither bank has pinpointedx specific locations. "We're looking primarily at de novobrancgh expansions, identifying a site and buildingg a branch," said Paul Holewinski, executive VP of Dickinson Both banks kept existing managemenf -- Tom Wilson, president at Southermn Commerce, and Philip Chesnut, president and CEO at Although GulfStream is 1,000 miles away from Dickinson'a headquarters and the offices of its Bank Midwest subsidiary, Holewinskui said the company has experience in managing from a distance.
Its militart subsidiary, , has 32 branchese coast to coast, including one at in Tampa. "Wee try to centralize a lot of back office functionse and keep key managers in place that handles customer issues and givethem decision-making authority. They manage the Holewinski said. Tampa is "underbanked" on the commercial said Superior's Hall, because many of its out-of-stat based banks don't have decision makers in the "Commercial customers want a quick response," he said. "We get 99 percent of the dealws we pursue because we get there first withan answer.
" Superior also has "more robust products" than Kensington, such as treasury and investmenf services, and is able to lead a transactionh as large at $50 million, Hall