Razor sharp

A few days before Orion Bank's collapse in late 2009, John Allison paid a visit to the Naples-based bank's flamboyant chairman and CEO, Jerry Williams.

Over dinner and drinks, Allison says Williams privately admitted the severity of Orion's regulatory problems. A few days after their meeting, Allison's Arkansas-based bank, Centennial Bank, bid for the assets of the Naples bank at the swiftly arranged government auction.

Centennial's bid for Orion was just shy of the winning bid by Louisiana-based IberiaBank. But that hasn't stopped Allison from bidding on 27 banks in Florida during the downturn, ultimately winning eight of them through the government-auction process. In addition, the bank acquired another three Florida financial institutions without government assistance and it recently opened a new branch from scratch in Naples.