Lending growth picks up

Who says banks aren't making loans?

Banks headquartered on the Gulf Coast from Pasco to Collier counties posted an 11% increase in total assets in the first quarter compared with the same quarter one year ago. Loans make up a majority of a bank's assets, suggesting borrowers are taking on debt as the economy improves.

“We have the capital to grow,” says Gary Tice, chairman and CEO of First National Bank of the Gulf Coast. In 2011, the Naples-based bank secured a commitment of $148 million in capital from institutional investors and it acquired $54 million in loans from Royal Palm Bank of Florida last year after state regulators shut down the struggling Naples bank.