Florida Banking May 2023

Intercredit Bank Embracing digital banking to expand in the United States

I ntercredit Bank is a Miami-based community bank with an international flavor. While the bank has strong ties to Latin America, bank leadership is focused on growing its footprint in South Florida and across the United States with digital banking technology. “I think banking is on the cusp of a total transformation. It’s the advent of technology that’s making this industry an extremely exciting place to be,” said Simon Cruz, Intercredit Bank President and CEO.“Ours is going to be a hybrid offering; though we are pushing forward with technology, we’re grounded in our traditional values of service to the community. We want to continue to service our local market while

United States. They’ve been in banking all their lives, and they understand both the U.S. market and the Latin American market. We’re poised to really grow,” Cruz said. Cruz has been in banking for more than 40 years; he didn’t choose to be a banker, rather, the career chose him. Unbeknownst to Cruz, a friend set him up for interviews with banks recruiting at their university, the Johns Hopkins School of International Studies. When he graduated, he went into international banking because it gave him the opportunity to travel and see the world. “Banking has been great. You get to see all sorts of different businesses; you get to travel, and you get to meet and help people,” Cruz said.

beginning to branch out and diversify into other areas.” Cruz credits the bank's COO Matthew Cordis and IT Manager Javier Montero, both of whom come from fintech backgrounds, with “evolving and developing the bank’s digital capabilities and ability to deliver products quickly.” He’s also grateful for the commitment of the bank’s new owners; in 2020, Intercredit Bank was purchased by Ecuadorian businessman Dr. Fidel

Cruz accepted a position with Chase Manhattan Bank on the condition that it would send him abroad. When he was sent to Barbados to serve as the country manager for the Caribbean, he requested an audit of the division and found that it was losing money.

“OUR OWNERSHIP HAS BEEN IN BANKING ALL THEIR LIVES, AND THEY UNDERSTAND BOTH THE U.S. MARKET AND THE LATIN AMERICAN MARKET. WE’RE POISED TO REALLY GROW.”

“I lived on the island for two years cleaning up the bank. And at the end of two years, we sold it, which is how I got into cleaning up banks that were in trouble and selling them,” Cruz said. “That’s what I did for quite some time.” It was this experience that brought Cruz to Intercredit Bank in 2011. He helped turn the bank around in the wake of the Great Recession, with a focus on cleaning up the bank’s credit portfolio. He also turned his attention to the bank’s international lending division, growing the bank’s local lending and adding a trade finance component. Cruz was asked to stay, and he was grateful for the opportunity to put down roots and take on the more positive role of overseeing future growth. Active in the Intercredit Bank, Continued on page 10

- SIMON CRUZ

Egas Grijalva, the majority owner of Banco Pichincha Holding Group. Founded in 1906, the holding group owns the largest private commercial bank in Ecuador in addition to banks in Spain, Colombia, Peru and Panama, as well as an agency office in Miami. Intercredit Bank is not part of the Banco Pichincha Holding Group and is separately managed and regulated. Today, the bank has five branches in Miami-Dade and $560 million in assets, serving primarily as a commercial real estate lender and residential lender to non-resident aliens. “We have an ownership that is investing large sums of money into developing a franchise here in the

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