In over 30 years, the three banks of Pensacola's Five Flags Banks group — Bank of the South, Warrington Bank and First Navy Bank — have foreclosed on only one loan among them.

"We're pretty conservative," says Marilyn Hess, chairman of Warrington Bank and daughter of the late Charles P. Woodbury, who founded the banks between 1952 and 1973. "Our responsibility is not to get people in trouble, but to make sound and secure loans that borrowers have the ability to repay."

The banks consistently are among Florida's highest-rated, with two Bauer five-star ratings and one four-star. They're community banks. "We have older customers that come in every day to balance their checkbooks," says Hess.

This year, Five Flags will establish a niche downtown, where it has purchased a corner on Main Street for a First Navy branch.