Mergers have thinned the ranks of South Florida-based banks in recent years, but those that remained significantly boosted their lending in 2017.

By Brian Bandell
Senior Reporter, South Florida Business Journal a day ago

Mergers have thinned the ranks of South Florida-based banks in recent years, but those that remained significantly boosted their lending in 2017.

Eight local banks increased their loan portfolios by more than $100 million each last year, including three banks with over $1 billion in loan growth, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. In addition, 19 of the 42 banks had double-digit percentage loan growth in 2017. Only seven local banks shrank their loan portfolios.

By comparison, the total loans at all Florida banks grew by 6.4 percent in 2017.

Miami Lakes-based BankUnited led all South Florida banks with $2.02 billion in loan growth, although some of that was in New York and on its national platforms. Miamibased City National Bank of Florida was especially impressive, as it came in second in both dollar volume and percentage increase for loan growth.

Coral Gables-based Professional Bank, which has been adding branches in Broward and Palm Beach counties, took the top spot with 45.2 percent loan growth in 2017.

By The Numbers