Relationship banking 101: when Jose Concepcion joined the newly minted Ocean Bank 20 years ago, deals were done on a handshake basis. Things are a bit different today at the $4 billion institution, but the bank president still relies on the old-fashioned virtues of loyalty and trust - Banking

South Florida CEO, Sept, 2003 by Wendy Doscher-Smith

For a bank that started out in a trailer, Miami-based Ocean Bank looks pretty darn good these days. The bank celebrates its 21st anniversary this December, and currently boasts more than $4 billion in assets. At the helm is president Jose Concepcion, who has used a grass roots strategy to help the bank grow since its inception, when he joined as executive vice president.

Despite its trailer offices, back in 1983 Ocean Bank had what Concepcion describes as a "very successful beginning," reaching $111 million in deposits and 71 employees that year; today Ocean Bank has $3.6 billion in deposits and 1,000 employees.

Much of the bank's success is due to old-fashioned networking and good timing. For Concepcion, who became bank president in 1990, his contacts go back to Cuba, where his banking career began in 1954 at Havana's Banco Pujol. Once in Miami, Concepcion joined Republic Bank. When he migrated to Ocean, clients followed him, and helped build the business.

"At first we had handshake deals," Concepcion says. "But we developed relationships and they came back, and referred others to us." Indeed, early relationships established with clients such as Century Partners, Adrian Homes, Leon Medical Centers and El Dorado Furniture proved fruitful.

Since those early days, Ocean Bank has developed a solid track record in commercial lending. According to Miami-based banking expert and author Ken Thomas, who describes the institution as "a strong bank, making money and well capitalized," Ocean is the largest commercial bank based in South Florida. Roughly 75 percent of the bank's lending dollars go toward real estate loans, and of those, between 40 percent and 45 percent go toward commercial real estate lending, including hotels, offices, shopping centers and gas stations.

Much of the credit for the bank's growth in commercial lending can go to Concepcion. When he became president, the bank had just $600 million in assets. "We just kept on producing and producing," Concepcion says, "and we did the right thing."

By that, Concepcion refers to the bank's reputation of standing by its customers, which has earned the institution the loyalty of developers on Brickell Avenue, South Beach and beyond. Until just recently, for example, you could see a billboard on South Miami Avenue and SW 8th Street thanking Ocean Bank--paid for by client Millennium Partners, developer of the Four Seasons tower.

At times, Ocean Bank's involvement with clients has demanded a dose of faith, as well as cash. That is clearly the case with Manny Medina, whose Terremark Worldwide NAP project is backed by Ocean Bank. The same can be said about client R. Donahue Peebles and his Royal Palm Crowne Plaza hotel; Ocean Bank issued a formal commitment letter for the project while it was in its infancy stage, helping secure the project's RFP.

Ocean Bank senior vice president Joy Venero, an officer with the commercial real estate division, saw the Royal Palm project as "bridging the gap," since Ocean is viewed as a primarily 'Hispanic bank (even though many top clients are not) and the project was by an African-American developer. Lending to the Royal Palm became a defining event for the bank. "We visualized the opening of the hotel," Venero says. "That's one of our proud moments."

Ocean Bank and Peebles are currently working together on the Bath Club condo/hotel project in Miami Beach, for which Ocean Bank provided a $25 million loan. Because he sees Ocean as a loyal bank--even as the Royal Palm experienced major construction setbacks, it stood by the project--Peebles says he remains a loyal client. He could have brought his Bath Club business anywhere, he notes.

"Ocean Bank is what a local entrepreneur's bank should be," Peebles says. "They can look at the details and specifics of projects within the community. They are very familiar with this market."

Today Ocean Bank continues the trend of loaning for high profile developments. Current projects include a $45 million loan for the Broward-based hotel/condo The Atlantic, a $32 million loan for the Boca Golf View Ltd., and a $33 million loan to the Sixteenth Street Partners group for a building on Mami Beach.

"Ocean Bank is one of the unique banks where major lending decisions can be made locally," Peebles says, "and that's why they've been so successful. In other banks senior officers make a proposal and then they go and run it up the flagpole to negotiate the deal. That's never happened with them."