Florida focus

The recession and relatively quick shrinkage it fostered on community banking in Florida scarred many business owners — a fact Kent Ellert considers nearly every day.

The tightening of loan requirements and a clamp down on credit lines has led many an entrepreneur to distrust or even shun banks. The 24 Gulf Coast bank failures since August 2008 only further exacerbate the ill will. Ellert, who has worked in Florida banking for more than 25 years, says he feels and hears the pain.

“Customers will have a much longer memory than at any other time in the past,” says Ellert, now president and CEO of Weston-based Florida Community Bank. “To this day they are more careful in choosing a financial provider.”