Florida Banking March 2023

coming.’ They made us stop growing and instead set up the enterprise risk systems when we were $500 million, so that in 2009 we emerged with a lot of capital and no credit issues,” Cole said.

The First Bank, Continued from page 9

The First Bank recently acquired Beach Bancorp, Inc. and Heritage Southeast Bancorporation, Inc. Atlanta-based Heritage Southeast Bank operated 23

branches across Georgia and northeast Florida; the merger will deepen The First’s presence in Georgia and Florida and provide the bank with entry points into the Atlanta, Savannah and Jacksonville markets. Referring to Heritage Southeast Bank, Cole remarked, “Outstanding bank, outstanding people. Culturally, we are so much alike. They are — as we are — pleased that they’re not going to be working for a credit union, because that’s a very different business model.”

Though The First has since changed its charter for a more efficient structure, Cole speaks positively of both regulatory bodies, admitting, “our regulators make us better.” Today, The First has approximately $7.9 billion in total assets and 114 locations across Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Cole and his team are thankful for the bank’s humble origins and excited for continued growth. “If you look at our history, about two-thirds

“WE’RE ACQUISITIVE BECAUSE WE’RE BUILDING A FRANCHISE IN SOME OF THE MOST DYNAMIC, FASTEST GROWING MARKETS IN THE SOUTH.”

- HOPPY COLE

Cole credits the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for much of the bank’s success, as it was the bank’s regulators who helped position The First for growth in the years preceding the Great Recession. “In 2006, our regulators came to us and said, ‘You’d better get your house in order, because a crisis is

of our growth has been acquisitive, and about a third has been organic. And those strategies are not mutually exclusive,” Cole said. “We’re acquisitive because we’re building a franchise in some of the most dynamic, fastest growing markets in the South. If you’re in the money business, you’ve got to go where the money is.”

The First Bank executive team.

10 — FLORIDA BANKING THE VOICE OF FLORIDA BANKING