Florida Banking June/July 2025

From left: VP, Commercial Banker Henry Mendez; Commercial Banking Advisor Cecilia Medrano; AVP, Director of Marketing Ryan Swanno; President & CEO Keith Costello; Concierge Center Manager Lorenzo Ortiz; SVP, Bank Retail & Relationship Manager Pamela Dalton; and Concierge Banker Sharon Groseclose

Keith Costello, Continued from page 8

Q: What’s one of the biggest lessons you’ve learned during your involvement with the FBA? A: The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that advocacy matters. As I mentioned earlier, you have to be driven, you have to persevere, and you have to keep showing up to talk about the issues that matter. It takes consistency and a long-term view, but it really does make a difference. That’s the most important thing I’ve taken away from my time with the FBA. Q: Now shifting gears a bit – do you have any stories or information you’d like to share about your own bank? Can you tell us when it was founded, what need it addressed in the community and what kind of impact it’s had locally? A: After we sold First Green Bank, I had a two-year non-compete period. So during that time, I sat on the sidelines – right through the PPP era. I started getting calls from former clients and business owners in Fort Lauderdale who couldn’t get a return call from their banks, much less secure PPP loans. It reminded me a lot of 2008 and 2009. In times of crisis, that’s when you find out whether or not you really have a relationship with your bank. When everything’s fine, it may not seem important – but when something goes wrong, that’s when it matters. So I started looking at Broward County. In 2015, there were 11 banks headquartered there. By 2020, that number had dropped to just three. Community bank assets went from $11 billion down to around $600 million – a huge decline. I went back to the business community and asked, “Do we need another bank?” Not everyone said yes, but enough did – and even more importantly, enough people were willing to support it with capital. We raised about $38 million from local business investors, and that’s how we launched in January 2022.

Since then, we’ve grown to about $300 million in assets in just three years, and I think the impact has been significant. We've helped a lot of local companies, especially small and medium-sized businesses that are traditionally underserved. With the decline of community banks, many of those businesses had started turning to fintechs – not necessarily because they wanted to, but because they had no other option. And while fintechs can be good in some cases, they can also lead to negative experiences, especially with predatory lending like merchant cash advances. I’ve seen firsthand how businesses fall into a dangerous cycle of taking out quick, high-interest loans – sometimes at rates of 30% or more – only to find themselves buried in debt and stuck in a loop of refinancing. That’s why I feel so strongly about what we’re doing. We’re putting responsible lending options in front of these businesses, guiding them toward more sustainable decisions, and being there when they need real banking relationships. We’ve also made a big investment in SBA lending, building out a strong program that helps us better serve our community. I believe that’s where we’ve been able to make the greatest impact – being a dependable partner for small and medium-sized businesses when it matters most. Q: Can you describe the culture of your bank? What are your core values and long-term goals? A: Culture is incredibly important to us – it was something we started talking about from day one. I have two fantastic co-founders, Drew Saito and Corey LeBlanc, both in their 40s and bringing such great energy. Drew is our Chief Lending Officer and Corey leads Technology and Operations. From the start, we knew we needed to be crystal clear about why we were doing this, what kind of environment we wanted to create, and what values would guide us.

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