The Claxton Bank eyes North Florida expansion after early Jacksonville success (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — Fifteen months have passed since The Claxton Bank planted its flag on the 18th floor of 1 Independent Drive.
Much like the growing riverbank its office overlooks, the community lender — known locally as TCB — is charting growth plans that signal a deeper commitment to the region.
Even in a market flush with deposits and dominated by major players, local bank leaders tell the Business Journal they’ve found traction by leaning into TCB’s core identity.
“It’s having a disciplined — we’re in banking as a risk-based business — risk management philosophy,” said TCB President and CEO Scott Verlander. “While also [having] the creativity to help clients when and where it makes sense. That balance we coin common sense.”
This high-touch, people-forward strategy has been built by a collective decades of experience, an uncommon trait for a new market entry.
That’s because, though TCB is Jacksonville’s newest addition in recent memory, its leadership isn’t filled with unfamiliar names.
Jacksonville Market President Kim Sole, for instance, joined TCB in October 2024 with 20 years of local commercial banking experience, including time with EverBank, First Atlantic Bank and, most recently, First Horizon Bank.
Verlander, who’s based in Jacksonville, leads the bank after decades spent in executive roles with organizations, EverBank and TIAA among them.
In 2023 — an investor group composed of an array of Jacksonville natives, including Verlander — purchased a controlling position in Southern Bankshares Inc., The Claxton Bank’s holding company. Though established in Georgia, bringing it to the First Coast was the next logical step.
Focused on primarily small- and mid-sized businesses, the bank today holds a collective $202 million matching deposits as of June 30, 2025, according to the latest FDIC data. Of that, roughly $29. 7 million is held by the Jacksonville office, as of the same time period.
TCB is still among the Jacksonville region’s smallest banks by local deposit market share — No. 34 of 39 banks in the area, according to Business Journal list research — but its leaders called it an early success.
“It’s leveraging not only the relationships of Kim and her team,” said Verlander. “But also relationships of our directors and investors, many of whom have deep connections and ties to the Jacksonville and Northeast Florida community.”
Bank leaders wouldn’t confirm specific plans, but Verlander said they’re looking toward expansion across North Florida — inclusive of headcount and physical footprint.
The bank currently employs 14 downtown, which is nearly triple the staff it entered the market with.
“We believe that we can execute our value proposition without having to have a physical location on every corner,” Verlander said. “There is the benefit to, perhaps, having more than one physical location in an area as large as Jacksonville.”
Photo courtesy of TCB