Buy and buy

In most Florida community banks, during the banking crisis, words like takeover and buyout were taboo, only whispered in the break or boardrooms.

Quite the opposite for Polk County-based CenterState Banks Inc., the holding company for CenterState Bank of Florida: Those words are part of the reason it thrived during the recession. And for top CenterState executive John Corbett, it's been an exciting time in the bank's history.

Since 2009, Corbett has overseen the purchase of 11 small community banks around Florida — six of them in deals completed in conjunction with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
“We are growing when others are faltering. It's a counterintuitive strategy,” Corbett says. “The FDIC guaranteed future losses and sold banks at a discount. We've made a profit since day one.”