Francesc Noguera, CEO, Pibank

spoke with Francesc Noguera, CEO of Pibank, about the bank’s transition from a traditional community model to a digital-first platform, its rapid national expansion, and the role of Miami talent in scaling operations. “The world has changed, and convenience is something that is valued,” Noguera said.

What is the vision behind transitioning from Intercredit Bank to a digital-first model?

The bank has operated as a community bank for over 30 years, with branches, cash, checks, and a full range of traditional products. One important factor is that the bank has a national association license, which authorizes us to do banking nationwide.

The current shareholder acquired the bank about five years ago and owns banks in several countries. The United States has become a strategic part of that broader banking group, and there is capital available to support growth. However, scaling a traditional community bank nationwide through branches would be costly and extremely time-consuming.

The group had already introduced the Pibank digital model successfully in Spain and Colombia, so around two years ago, the decision was made to test whether that model could work in the United States. The first product, a digital savings account, was launched in August of 2024. 

The results have been strong. As a ‘niche’ community bank, the bank had roughly $500 million in total assets after more than 30 years. Today, Pibank has more than $2 billion in total assets, meaning we have multiplied our size by about four times in roughly 18 months. In 2026 alone, we have grown by more than $500 million.

That gives us two important elements as we transition: confidence that the model works nationwide, because it already has, and funding that can be channeled into credit. We are now sunsetting the traditional model, discontinuing branches, cash, checks, and many products, and becoming a cashless and branchless bank.

How would you describe Pibank’s model going forward?

It is not just a digital bank. For individuals, we will primarily be a digital bank because it is easier to reach them with digital products and functionalities. On the credit side, however, we are targeting businesses around the country, and that model works well. 

It is a hybrid model depending on the segment. We offer digital capabilities or human capabilities, as long as the premise is that they scale easily.

What external trends are supporting the shift toward digital banking?

The association of digital banking only with young people does not make sense; it is more expansive than that. People of every age use their phones for everything. My mother is 84, and she has her iPad and iPhone and does banking. She never goes to a branch.

The world has changed, and convenience is something that is valued. Self-service is the best service because it is available 24/7. You do not depend on anyone. You can be at home on a Sunday, check your balance, or make a payment immediately.

In a country like the United States, where digital capabilities are so extensive, our transition to Pibank has been virtually seamless. 

How has Miami supported Pibank’s growth and expansion?

The community bank gave us the foundation for what we are doing now, and we have to be proud of that. At this stage, the most important contribution we get from Miami is talent. That is a real differentiator.

Our goal is to become a national bank. As a matter of fact, Pibank has customers from Florida to California. We may be a small bank by traditional metrics, but we are well on our way. We are proud to be born in Miami and to be a Miami-based bank. Even if our business takes us everywhere in the nation, South Florida, as an evolving global financial center, is an extremely positive homebase. 

Miami has a lot of talented people, and you can build a digital bank with nationwide ambitions around that talent. 

How are you helping your team continue growing in a knowledge sense?

Miami has a strong talent pool, and it is an extremely appealing city. When you have to bring someone from another place, people see it positively; they want to be here.

We train by practice. We have a diverse team from different backgrounds, so I am not concerned about innovation because we have many perspectives in the team. Someone will always be pushing for something new.

When a good idea comes from a team member, everyone jumps in and works to make it happen. It is learning by making it happen. We are living it every day as a team.

We also put a lot of emphasis on teamwork and on socializing everything. Everyone must be part of what we are doing and part of the story. We are breaking silos and working as one team.

How are you balancing innovation with risk management and security?

To work as a team and be creative, we realized we needed to be in the office. Creativity does not arise only through Teams calls. That works for some things, but when it comes to creating and building team dynamics, people need to interact face-to-face.

We still keep some remote work, as many companies and banks do, but we encourage people to be in the office. We also gathered the areas that were spread around the city into one central office with Miami Headquarters. On risk, we are a bank, we are regulated, and we have checks and balances. We have a strong risk management area, which is the second line of defense in a bank.

There was a major effort over the past two years to attract experienced professionals in every area, not only on the business side but also in risk management. Because we are so tech-oriented, we also benefit from advanced and automated tools to identify fraud or anything that could jeopardize our operations or the bank. So far, we have not had any issues, but we are vigilant because it is such a prevalent issue.

What are your priorities for the next three years?

This year is a transition year. We are developing a new strategic plan covering 2027 to 2029, and we expect to have that plan by the end of this year.

I do not have the full picture yet, but growth will be important. That growth will evolve concurrently with our rollout of additional digital products. Right now, when it comes to digital products for individuals, we only have the savings account.

We plan to roll out additional products and functionalities. I do not think we want to be a full-fledged bank. We want to be a bank with a few products, but competitive products.

How are you approaching corporate banking and credit expansion?

On the credit side, we have different types of credit, but two current driving forces are syndicated loans across the country and commercial real estate. Commercial real estate is more typical for Miami and was something the community bank was already doing, but we are expanding upon it.

We are working with larger entities as well as looking beyond South Florida into Central Florida and Northern Florida. In the new strategic plan, commercial real estate may also expand to other states.

Syndicated loans were a challenge because we wanted to participate in loans across the country with public borrowers, and the larger players are institutions like JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America. We managed to attract a manager with a great deal of experience in this specialized arena in New York, and she relocated to South Florida to lead the area. We also have people in Miami on the underwriting side, and we have assembled a skilled team.

We are also close to having a powerful AI agent on the underwriting side to complement our people. It is working well. With smaller tickets compared to the major banks, we have still managed to participate in syndicated loans. In the future, we may also engage in project finance and build bilateral relationships with corporations across the country, but the first step is building a portfolio of syndicated loans.