Banking news not all gloom and doom

Coffee Talk is happy to report that not all the news in local community banking is about regulatory shut downs and desperate capital raising efforts.

Lakewood Ranch-based Community Bank of Manatee and Venice-based Florida Shores are beacons in the dark.

Florida Shores, for example, recently completed its ninth straight profitable month in June, with $446,126 in earnings. The bank, founded in late 2007 and now with branches in Englewood and Fort Myers, also reported a profit of $536,253 for the second quarter.

Florida Shores President and CEO Jim Kuhlman attributes the bank's quick profitability turn to a combination of market timing, seizing opportunity and being efficient with deposits and assets. On the latter, for example, Florida Shores, the only community bank left with a Venice headquarters, has found a niche in working with the dozens of condo associations that dot the Venice area.

“We are getting a way bigger piece of the market than I ever thought we would,” Kuhlman tells Coffee Talk.

That piece is big enough, in fact, that Kuhlman is in the midst of an expansion plan. For starters, he recently hired an executive to find loan opportunities and customers in Sarasota. He expects to open a branch there by spring 2011.

Even bigger news: Florida Shores launched an $8 million capital raising effort. The bank garnered about $5 million in five weeks and Kuhlman will speak with potential investors through the end of August.

Kuhlman is especially excited about the capital efforts because unlike many other peers and competitors, this endeavor is about being on the offensive. “We are exploring the unbelievable market share opportunities out there,” says Kuhlman, “while other banks are still in the doldrums.”

Community Bank, meanwhile, posted a profit of $490,000 in the second quarter. The bank, with five branches and $250 million in assets, also recently filled a key position when it hired local banking executive Katie Pemble as president and chief operating officer. Pemble's past bank jobs on the Gulf Coast include president of Bank of America's Pinellas County offices and president of Tampa-based Florida Bank Group.

With profits and a new president, it appears the glow of the bank's biggest announcement of the recession — it raised $15 million in capital late last year — hasn't yet lost its glow. Indeed, the bank's second quarter was aided by a separate $1.7 million injection of capital, bank officials say.