Apollo Bank hires South Florida banking veteran as its president

Apollo Bank in Miami, which called off plans to sell to a credit union last year, has a new president.

The $850 million-asset bank said in a press release Tuesday that it had hired Ramon Rodriguez to oversee its lending and credit teams, client services and the global banking division.

Rodriguez previously served as director of commercial banking and treasury management at City National Bank of Florida.

“When I was thinking about starting a bank in 2008, in the middle of a recession, Ramon was one of the first people I talked to,” Eddy Arriola, Apollo’s chairman and CEO, said in the release. “His advice and support were instrumental in building Apollo Bank to what it is today.”

Apollo said it is also looking to revamp its digital offerings and pursue more business around South Florida. The bank in recent months has introduced a new app, enhanced its mobile banking and digitized internal systems to streamline internal communication.

Apollo agreed in December 2019 to be sold to Suncoast Credit Union in Tampa, Fla. Apollo would have been the biggest bank to be sold to a credit union.

Suncoast and Apollo called the deal off in May 2020, pointing to “a series of indefinite delays that arose during the regulatory approval process due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”