Texas-based Comerica targets North Florida growth, appoints new group manager (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — A newer addition to the region, Texas-based Comerica Bank is poised for investment across the First Coast and add heads to its local footprint.
After entering the local market in 2022, the bank recently appointed Jacksonville native and commercial banking veteran Christopher Clark to group manager for its North Florida market to lead its expansion in the region.
Comerica operates more than 350 retail banking locations across its five-state footprint of Texas, Michigan, California, Arizona and Florida. Though the bank has been in the Sunshine State since 1979, that’s largely been centralized to South Florida.
As a regional bank, Comerica has been around for 175 years, serving that slice of middle-market commercial customers atop its retail offerings. It reported $79.61 billion total assets as of quarter two of 2024, according to FDIC data.
Jacksonville is part of two emerging markets for Comerica nationwide: the Southeast U.S. and Mountain West, explained Clark.
“We believe Jacksonville has a strong economic market, not only today, but well into the future,” he said. “Much of that belief comes in the diverse range of industries within our city, which help insulate North Florida from challenging economic environments.”
But while Comerica does offer retail services, it does not have a physical retail presence in North Florida. However, the bank has instead focused on commercial and wealth management across the region.
The Dallas-headquartered bank’s local headcount is small and working remotely, Clark said, but the newly appointed group manager hinted toward finalizing office space in the next 12 to 18 months.
Right now, the bank is seeking to fill two roles that, once filled, will kickstart a vision for a larger team in Jacksonville. Because most of Comerica’s customers are in the beach areas of North Florida, that’s likely where the bank will hunt for physical space, Clark said.
“We’re busy in North Florida,” he said. “Because we’re busy, we need to add more bankers to the ground in North Florida.”