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Taxes/Finance
The state of finance in Florida
A Bank Breaks Through
On Aug. 1, a block away from Winter Park’s tony Park Avenue shopping district, Winter Park National opened its doors for the very first time.
It was a little bank and a big moment: Winter Park National is the first nationally chartered bank to open in Florida since 2009 and the depths of the financial crisis.
Backed by a group of managers and directors with a long history of community banking — including those with Century National, which sold to Seacoast in 2005, and New Traditions, which Iberia bought in 2015 — the plans for Winter Park National were set in motion more than a year ago.
There were two driving factors, says David Dotherow, Winter Park National’s president and CEO. The first was that the FDIC decided to rescind a stringent rule it had issued after the financial crisis. The rule required new banks seeking a national charter to operate under intense federal oversight for seven years. Previously, the oversight period had only lasted for three years. The second factor was consolidation in the banking industry, which had seen the number of community banks fall sharply — from about a dozen in central Florida, for instance, to only three or four.
Community banks play an important role, Dotherow says, particularly in helping smalland medium-sized businesses.
“We’re not trying to bank Fortune 500 companies. We’re trying to bank the businesses that are in our community, and we stay within our community.”
The bank raised $40 million following its approval in April and hired about 15 people to staff its first branch and corporate offices.
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