FirstBank Florida, a region of FirstBank Puerto Rico, operating in the Florida market, continues its growth and expansion, announcing today the opening of its Pinecrest Branch in South Florida. The Pinecrest Branch is located at 9795 South Dixie Highway, and is managed by VP Pilar Montes. “We are very excited to expand our presence to the Pinecrest community and will work diligently to serve our consumer and commercial customers as they look for great service, convenience and technology that match their needs, and competitive rates in our residential and professional products,” said Mrs. Montes.
FirstBank Florida which had an impressive capital raise a year and a half ago of $500 million, continues making strategic moves in South Florida, including growing its commercial and residential teams to address the demand in residential lending and refinancing, as well as an increased need for lines of credit and financing for small and mid-sized businesses. “Residential lending has doubled their mortgage lending every year for the past four years. Our focus as a community bank, where all loan processing, approvals, and closing are done locally, by individuals with a deep understanding of our community truly give us a competitive edge in both product offering and speedy loan approvals,” said Alina Robau, SVP of the Consumer Bank and Lending. FirstBank also added a corporate banking team this past January to further serve larger and more complex credits and companies. “The reality is that we have a distinct offering that most banks cannot propose…we can offer the high quality, interpersonal, service of a community bank, while maintaining the financial wherewithal and risk controls to manage large deals, and bank large customers,” said FirstBank’s Region Executive and EVP, Calixto Garcia-Velez. “We remain very focused on growing our South Florida footprint as it is still a developing market that has an amazing entrepreneurial sector, mixed with proven and successful businesses that are poised for further advancement,” added Mr. Garcia-Velez.
About FirstBank Florida:
FirstBank Florida is part of FirstBank Puerto Rico. The $13 Billion asset size bank, with around $2 billion of those assets in Florida, has been hiring, lending, and expanding their offerings over the last year and a half in a targeted yet steady manner. The bank which has 12 branches in South Florida and it’s regional headquarters in Blue Lagoon, plans further branch growth.
