From $130M to $2.4B in under a decade, what’s next for Cogent Bank in Northeast Florida (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — When an investor group bought a small community bank charter eight years ago and stripped it of the crowded “Pinnacle” name, they laid the groundwork for a from-scratch expansion through markets like Jacksonville.
Cogent Bank has charted a steady climb across the Sunshine State as it moved from $130 million assets to $2.4 billion — plus a fast-growing local presence — in under a decade.
Now, Cogent’s First Coast Market President Phil Bravo is eyeing new offices for his Northeast Florida operation that could extend his regional reach in a crowded banking market.
The Jacksonville team is pushing toward a $300 million in local assets milestone, with Bravo’s real estate ambitions focused further west toward Tallahassee and south in St. Johns County — both on the potential new offices list. Across Florida, the state-chartered bank aims to surpass $3 billion in total assets.
Conversations surrounding new market entries all begin with putting together the right team first.
“We take opening up an office very seriously,” said Bravo. “So, it’s really more strategic than probably most banks, since we’re not trying to look for the retail corners or intersections around town.”
As opposed to pursuing acquisitions or particular growth corridors, the bank has scaled organically by identifying experienced leaders in a market they’re entering into, building around them and launching offices market by market.
They’ve replicated that output nine times, including a ground-up entry into Jacksonville in 2019, where the bank started with no presence and has steadily expanded since. Its office is located at 5011 Gate Parkway, Building 100, Suite 150.
Since 2018, when it acquired Pinnacle Bank in the Orlando-area, the financial institution today known as Cogent Bank has spent recent years organically growing its assets. The bank has 255 employees statewide across 10 centers, including roughly 20 employees in Northeast Florida.
Its niche is centered around clients who want a banker who picks up the phone.
“Cogent was built on the belief that banking should be personal, proactive and relationship-driven,” said Lee Hanna, co-founder and executive chairman of Cogent Bank’s board. “As we move forward, we are committed to deepening those relationships and continuing to deliver a personalized banking experience that grows alongside our clients.”
With just one office in the area, located on the Southside near the St. Johns Town Center, Cogent favors a relationship-driven banking system tailored for small and mid-size businesses, an area Bravo called “underserved.” The local leader credited speed and a personal touch as qualities that set the bank apart from competitors.
“We do provide pretty relatively quick credit decisions, so there isn’t a wait and see, and ‘gosh, this might sit for a couple of months,’ there isn’t that,” he said. It’s twofold: it’s the lack of personal attention from the larger banks, and then also access to timely credit decisions.”
Cogent is Northeast Florida’s 20th largest bank with $211.41 million in local deposits, or about 0.17% of local market share, as of the latest FDIC data.
After its creation in 2018, the bank has grown deposits from approximately $102 million to more than $2.1 billion, deposit accounts from 2,367 to 13,509 and loan accounts from 338 to 2,463, according to Cogent-supplied data.
Outside Northeast Florida, the bank is currently seeking new hires for a branch in St. Petersburg, alongside a team recently onboarded in Miami.
“You really can’t be a high-performing bank in Florida if you don’t have a South Florida presence,” said Bravo.
The First Coast leader for Cogent has a loose timeline for additional branches in the Jacksonville-area, and is instead focused on finding the right talent for the job before entering a market.
Photo courtesy of Cogent Bank