Bank shrinks its executive base

Florida Bank Group, a Tampa-based institution trying to grow its presence statewide through a series of independent subsidiary banks, could be on the verge of a strategy shift.

The company recently let go six mangers, including Mike Worthington, a longtime Gulf Coast banking executive it brought in to run its Sarasota division early last year. The two-bank Sarasota unit, the first of which opened in January 2008 after officers raised about $18 million in capital, is now being run out of the holding company's downtown Tampa headquarters.

Worthington, reached at his Venice home March 16, confirmed that he and five senior leaders at the company were recently let go. He declined to comment further, citing his severance agreement.