Things are still tough in Florida. One of the states hit hardest by the recession, it is staggering along with an 11.5% unemployment rate.
But Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust in Coral Gables is squarely in growth mode. After a management-led buyout of the company from Boston Private Financial Holdings, the 22-year-old institution's asset total and employee counts have risen by respectable margins over the past two years.
Now, Gibraltar is really putting its foot on the gas in the hopes of becoming a South Florida powerhouse. The company, which has seven Florida branches and one in New York City, recently hired well-known Florida banking veterans to fill key positions. And with the help of acquisitions, its leaders plan to boost its bank assets and assets under management considerably.
"I'm very bullish on the markets we're in," said Steven Hayworth, Gibraltar's founder, chairman and chief executive. "We're in markets that are growing or have significant wealth, where even a couple of points of market share is significant."
Between September 2009 and February 2011, Gibraltar's total assets grew 13%, and its employee ranks climbed 10%, to 264. Its bank assets currently stand at $1.65 billion, and its assets under management are about $725 million. Within three to five years, Hayworth said, bank assets will reach as much as $3.5 billion, as will assets under management.
To meet its growth goals, Gibraltar this year has hired several executives, including Adolfo Henriques, the company's vice chairman, president and chief operating officer. Henriques, who served on the board of Gibraltar Private from 2008 until 2010, is the former chairman of NationsBank for South Florida and CEO of the south region for Regions Bank.
Gibraltar also brought in Angel Medina Jr., as executive vice president and chief credit officer. Medina is the former South Florida president for Regions Bank and was a senior vice president with the former Barnett Bank for 12 years.
In all, Gibraltar boasts five executives with experience as bank presidents.
"We think we've put together the most talented executive management team in southeast Florida," Hayworth said.
Hayworth predicts that assets under management will grow faster than bank assets as a result of organic growth as well as "the strategic liftout of teams." He specified that the bank is interested in acquiring independent advisors.
"The RIA market is full of really talented investment professionals that are very focused on open architecture," he said. "A home like Gibraltar would be a natural fit for them."
Gibraltar would provide referrals and also accommodate registered investment advisor clients who need trust and private banking services, Hayworth said. And being able to offer banking and trust services could help RIAs protect against their clients being poached by banks that also have investment businesses, he said.
"A lot of RIAs are trying to figure out how to deal with trust powers," Hayworth said. "Not having them is a competitive disadvantage with some of their best clients."
Jack O'Hara, vice president of AdvisorAssist LLC in Humarock, Mass., said the referrals and trust offering would indeed be appealing to advisors. So would economies of scale and access to a parent's technical infrastructure.
But independent advisors usually have entrepreneurial streaks, and they could find ceding ultimate authority distasteful, O'Hara said.
"There's a certain level of control you lose when you partner with someone," he said. "You're no longer the owner — you're the employee."
Being acquired could make sense for RIAs that frequently find their clients asking for services they don't provide, O'Hara said. An alternative is to get a trust charter.
"But then you're taking on a whole new business venture," O'Hara said. "The question in that case is whether the added business is worth the time and expense — you can't be everything to everybody."
The management-led buyout from Boston Private, which bought Gibraltar in 2005, came as that company retrenched and shed several affiliates.
Hayworth said the deal "liberated us to focus on the markets we're so passionate about." The emphasis on near-term profit under the publicly traded Boston Private, he said, was a distraction. "If you have to worry about quarterly earnings, it is difficult at times to build the business," he said.
