One Step Ahead

Shortly after USAmeriBank was founded in Clearwater six years ago, CEO Joe Chillura and his advisers spotted a void the mid-sized bank could fill. They provided loans to Tampa Bay companies whose needs were too big for small banks, and too small to command attentive service from big banks.

The strategy worked. Within five years, the independent bank had $1 billion in assets, and it was still growing. By the end of 2012, those assets more than doubled, to $2.5 billion, and the bank's work force swelled from 33 in 2007 to more than 450 employees. Through the dark days of the recession, USAmeriBank shone like a lantern for local entrepreneurs by investing in their growth with loans at a time when many big banks refused to lend.

But the bank's rise did not go unnoticed in the finance community, and before long, rivals leapt into the mid-size realm, eager to snatch market share with competitive loan rates and terms. To perserve its healthy balance sheet, USAmeriBank expanded its footprint, by opening new Hillsborough County branches and acquiring an Alabama bank. The bank then made another strategic move in December, when it diversified into the insurance business with its acquisition of Connelly, Carlisle, Fields & Nichols insurance agency (CCF&N).