Florida Capital Bank, one of only two banks along with TIAA headquartered in Jacksonville, started 2020 coming off its best year since opening in 2004.
Despite the pandemic, President and COO Mark Johnson said this year is on track to be better, attributing growth to several lines of business: mortgage lending, warehouse lending and commercial real estate loans.
“(2019 and 2020) have been very conducive to a good mortgage markets,” Johnson said. “And so we’ve been able to take advantage of that.”
Last year, the bank’s assets totaled $454.7 million. At the end of this year’s third quarter, Johnson said the bank had $530 million in assets.
The bank did more than $4 billion in warehouse lending last year, and is on track to break $3 billion in that area in 2020. Through warehouse lending, Florida Capital provides lines of credit to smaller mortgage bankers.
Johnson estimates about $1.5 billion in mortgage lending in 2020, compared with $1.1 billion in 2019.
With low mortgage rates, Johnson said people increasingly are deciding to move out of apartments and buy homes.
“The mortgage market is probably the hottest mortgage market that I can recall in my 40 years,” he said.
Florida Capital has four bank branches in the state in Jacksonville, Gainesville, Tampa and Orlando.
Unlike some banks that are closing branch locations, Johnson said Florida Capital will “maintain the status quo,” and not add or close branches.
“The goal is to maintain the markets that we’re in, but grow in the markets that we’re in,” he said.
Before the 2008 recession, it had 19 branches.
During that time, Johnson said the bank had $1 billion in assets. The recession hit, “it totally changed the dynamics of community banks in the state of Florida.”
“Florida Capital certainly wasn’t immune to that,” he said. “We had substantial losses, we were bleeding capital. And so we just had to make some tough decisions.”
The bank fell from $1 billion in capital to $300 million.
Its mortgage lending business is what saved the bank, he said. In 2010, Florida Capital Bank issued $2.8 billion in mortgage loans.
“The mortgage bank was really the earnings engine for the bank during the recession,” Johnson said.
The economic recession caused by the pandemic hasn’t been nearly as bad as the Great Recession in 2008, he said.
Through the Paycheck Protection Program, Florida Capital Bank loaned around $25 million. The program is partially responsible for the bank’s success this year.
Like nearly every other company, the pandemic caused Florida Capital to shift to remote operations.
Johnson said about 90% of its employees are working remotely. He does not see that changing in the next year, which is causing the company to reevaluate its physical office space needs, he said.
“We don’t need half the space that we have here,” he said.
Its headquarters and Jacksonville bank branch are at 10151 Deerwood Park Blvd. The company employs about 130 people.
The headquarters leases about 20,000 square feet of office space.
If the bank does relocate, it is likely it will remain in Jacksonville, he said.
Johnson and Vice Chairman and CEO J. Malcolm Jones are Jacksonville natives.
The bank has been at its executive offices since it was founded in 2005 when the board of directors purchased a Tarpon Springs bank and relocated it to Jacksonville.
The bank’s board members include former Congressman Ander Crenshaw, Florida Capital’s former president and CEO Charlie Hughes and The Heavener Company CEO James Heavener.
Johnson joined the bank in 2006 as president and CEO of Florida Capital Bank Mortgage.
Jones, his friend of more than 40 years, asked him to join a predecessor bank called Florida Bank to start a mortgage company.
The two sold that bank, and then went to work with Jones at Florida Capital Bank in mortgage lending.
Johnson has worked in mortgage lending for the majority of his career.
From 1976 to 2002 he worked with HomeSide Lending where he served as executive vice president of production and secondary marketing.
“I love putting people in houses and living the American dream,” he said, “I love helping small businesses grow and helping people realize their dreams.”
