2 min read August 2022 — Invest: spoke with Charles Cross, market president of South Florida for Seacoast Bank, about their recent expansions and acquisitions, online banking security upgrades and audits, and their focus on community values through local branches.
What have been some highlights for Seacoast Bank over the last year?
It has been a crazy 12 months. Seacoast Bank is one of the largest community banks in Florida. The bank has continued to grow and expand throughout Florida’s most vibrant markets over the last 12 months. We announced or completed six acquisitions over the last year. Just recently, we announced the acquisition of Professional Holding Corp. with locations in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Drummond Bank was announced in May 2022 and that expanded us into North-Central Florida. Apollo Bank was announced in March 2022, where we expanded into the Miami-Dade market. Sabal Palm Bank was completed in January 2022 in the Sarasota market, and Florida Business Bank closed while deepening our presence in Brevard County. Legacy Bank was completed in 2021, which expanded our presence in Broward and Palm Beach County. Banks aren’t acquired, they are sold. Seacoast has been serving Floridians for nearly a century. Because of our history and experience, we know many bankers across the state and when they are ready to sell, we are the acquirer of choice.
In addition to M&A, we’ve expanded the bank’s leadership and management teams by hiring experienced industry leaders across Florida. We expanded into Jacksonville in February 2022, where we have key additions to the commercial banking team and leadership. We also opened two full-service branches in Broward County this year.
We continue to be active in consumer lending, where the growth has paralleled the growth of Florida. That has been an active part of our business. We not only lend for autos, residential mortgages and credit cards, but we also finance yachts, pleasure boats and aircraft. During the pandemic, these luxury purchases became more important to many people for various reasons, which created opportunities for us.
How have you leveraged technology for your business to better serve customers?
At Seacoast Bank, we believe in offering the types of services that our customers want. We want them to bank on their own terms. With a network of branches and the talent of bankers, coupled with online technology, we can do that. In February 2022, we launched an upgraded online mobile banking platform, unifying the customer experience and offering functionality and consistent features across all devices. New features include Zelle, which is very popular, and account aggregation and reporting tools. That enhanced experience for consumers and businesses compliments our ATMs, telephone banking service and our branch footprint.
What is the importance of bank branches in local communities?
Seacoast is very active in our local communities because a bank is only as good as the communities it serves. I think bank branches are still an integral part of what a customer wants, but they also want digital banking services or through an ATM. You need a variety of touchpoints for the customer. I have been in banking in Florida for over 40 years, and you don’t need as many branches as you used to, but they are still necessary and important.
How has population growth affected your business?
We are lucky to be in Florida. We have been booming with high-quality growth over the last few years. It is nothing short of remarkable with the amount of inbound population, which is driven by low taxes and a business-friendly environment. We see a continued opportunity to grow here, so we can offer services to a variety of customers.
What are some strategies for retaining or attracting talent?
The strength of our brand really helps us attract talented bankers. Seacoast also offers competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits. To aid our retention efforts we conduct an Employee Engagement Survey each year. The results of the survey and the feedback we receive help us create a process for continuous improvement.
What is the importance of community banks?
They are closely aligned with the local community. We try to put the decision-making at the community level, which is different from large institutions. One of the challenges for community banks is the cost of doing business. You think about all the fraud and cyber security threats, and we need to be prepared for them, so that costs a lot of money. We are committed to protecting our customer’s information and we work every day to assess and update the security risk. We identify risk by using risk assessments and audits, as well as third-party testing. It is a constant learning curve. The fraudsters are smart, and they change their playbook constantly. We hire third parties to try and penetrate our system, so we know how we could be taken advantage of. We talk to customers daily about their personal banking security, so we take it seriously.
What do you see in the future for Seacoast Bank?
We will continue to grow and invest in Florida. We now stretch from Miami to Jacksonville, and from Orlando and Tampa down through Sarasota into Naples. We cover all but the panhandle of Florida, and we aim to continue to consolidate market share in the state. We are built for organic growth, but the bottom line is we need to be good bankers. We need to continue to scale our best-in-class banking experience, supported by the best technology and coupled with knowledge and experienced employees.
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