Agostinho Alfonso Macedo, President, Chairman and CEO, Ocean Bank

In an interview with Invest:, Alfonso Macedo, president and CEO of Ocean Bank, said the influx of wealthy people to Florida has allowed the bank to grow within the state. He also highlighted how various real estate segments, including commercial, residential, and hospitality, continue to perform well, which creates opportunities for Ocean Bank to lend capital and expand.

What were some key milestones for Ocean Bank over the past 12 to 18 months?

We revamped and refreshed our image in all our branches, including our webpage which is basically our world branch. Our cash management system has become online banking, so it is a lot friendlier. We also continue growing in Miami by revamping our branches and moving them to better locations to achieve better footprints. Huge branches with 10 to 15 tellers are outdated, so we are modernizing to give people better access to our officers and employees. 

We also entered Central Florida by opening our first branch in Orlando last year. That branch has been booming. We have lent more than $300 million in Orlando. Additionally, the Orlando branch is a beautiful blue building, which is iconic for us since we have been in our blue building in Miami for 42 years. We like what we see in Central Florida, with Tampa and Orlando growing tremendously. There is a lot of construction, which is great since we do a lot of commercial real estate lending. The absorption is there for the products that are coming to the market. Additionally, Central Florida offers better affordability than South Florida, which makes it all the more attractive. We also just opened our first branch in Boca Raton at a great location across from the Boca Raton Museum and Mizner Park. We already have amazing relationships with customers in Boca Raton, so that will grow with our presence there. 

What unique characteristics make Florida an attractive place for Ocean Bank to do business?

Florida has been growing tremendously, and there are a lot of great things happening. Not only do we have the best beaches and climate in America, but there are also many fiscal advantages, including the lack of state taxes, which is huge. We are also a well-organized state where people feel safe. That has improved things for domestic immigration to come here. We are seeing an influx of wealthy people coming into Miami, including entrepreneurs with good business ideas. Ocean Bank has been there to help them, so we have grown with the domestic immigration that has arrived. We reached $6.65 billion in total assets last quarter. 

As more and wealthier people come to Miami, they are consuming, so our local businesses are doing better sales and performing better. That growth has not only been domestic. A lot of banks have moved away from international deposits. Nevertheless, we have the infrastructure and a strong compliance program in place that allows us to have a good relationship with international customers. Our wealth management area handles those international deposits, and we have experts in Mexico, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and all of Central America.

International clients love the service they receive at Ocean Bank as well as the comfort of knowing there is the support and strength of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation behind all deposits up to $250,000. Additionally, we can structure deposits to achieve 100% coverage for sophisticated clients. People trust not only in Ocean Bank because of our great performance but also in the U.S. financial system.

What are the key factors driving the success of Ocean Bank in commercial real estate lending?

We are experts in commercial real estate lending. People look to us to finance big apartment buildings and hotels because we know how to do those things. Ocean Bank’s recipe is basically service so every time a customer comes to our branch they have a specific banker. We also have every product that a large bank would offer, from broker-dealers to credit cards and consumer loans. 

What are the most important trends that Ocean Bank has identified in the commercial real estate lending sector?

Commercial is doing well. We see a strong market in each segment of commercial real estate. While it has deteriorated a little compared to 2023, that is because 2023 was way too good. There is normalization and seasonality going on. There are a couple of segments, such as office space, that we do not want to enter too much. With everybody working remotely, office has suffered. Hotels and everything hospitality has nevertheless been booming. Average daily rates are strong and going up. We are seeing a slowdown in middle-income restaurants, but nothing to worry about. 

Moreover, the residential sector in Florida has not been stronger in a while, despite inventory remaining low. We are not seeing the crazy numbers that we saw in 2021 to 2022. Instead, things have slowed down and normalized. One no longer sells a house the same day it is put on sale. There is a healthy period of two to three months. Demand for apartments is strong. The average occupancy rate in apartment buildings is beneath 8%, which is basically fully occupied. We have also reached a point where rents have stabilized. They are not coming down, but they stopped going up.

Industrial real estate is also super solid thanks to the demand from big box stores such as Walmart and Amazon. Additionally, the light industrial sector is seeing many projects converting to residential, which reduces the inventory and helps the owners of light industrial. 

What are the most important challenges facing the real estate sector in Florida?

The biggest issue we have is affordability. We have done some interesting projects where we collaborated with cities. In those projects, cities give clients the land or grants, we come in with the finance side, and there is a limit on the rent that can be charged on the units. We had two very successful projects of that type in Naranja and in North Miami. If you have affordable housing in Miami, you will fill it quickly. That is the Live Local Act. 

We are also financing a terminal in the Miami Executive Airport. As part of that project, the owner is renting from the county and Ocean Bank lends on the rent to build the terminal for private aviation.

What initiatives does Ocean Bank have in place to give back to the community?

We have always been involved with education. We have partnered with United Way for over 20 years. We also have partnered with the Education Fund which is a center for educational materials. That center is a warehouse where companies donate materials, and teachers from public schools can take materials for art classes free of charge. We are also involved in ocean conservation efforts and have a new initiative where all debit cards will be made with ocean-bound recycled plastics.

We are also involved with the community. The dining room of the Camillus House homeless shelter has the Ocean Bank name. Moreover, the Ocean Bank Convocation Center at Florida International University provides us with tremendous exposure at our community university.  The auditorium of the School of Business of that university is also named after Ocean Bank. 

What will be the top priorities and goals for Ocean Bank over the next two to three years?

As a Florida bank, we are going to keep growing in Florida. We love our state, and there is so much that we can do here. We will also continue modernizing the bank. For instance, we are analyzing using a couple of AI tools to improve processes internally. We keep improving our response times while also maintaining a personalized service and human touch. The flipside of modernizing is keeping the traditional image and service. People expect that human touch.

We are also working on new branches and new points to service our clients. Doral is an area that we want to keep growing in because of its strength. We are also looking at Central Florida. We like what we see in Palm Beach, and Tampa is also an option because it has been growing tremendously.