A New Chapter

When our senior management got together more than 11 years ago to build a hometown bank that would deliver “The Power of Personal Service” we had no idea that Florida Gulf Bank would grow so strong or create such a positive impact on our community.  We did not imagine that one day we would have eight banking offices in Lee County and 80 wonderful people on our staff. And yet this all came to fruition within a decade – a decade of extraordinary personal service for our clients, meaningful community involvement and a wealth of positive relationships inside and outside the bank.  This experience has been a rare and perfect capsule of time and we will always cherish it.

With the announcement last week that Florida Gulf Bank has agreed to be acquired by Iberia Bank it is true that some things will change over the next several months.  Most obvious, our name will change to Iberia Bank.  With that, the signage, marketing materials and phone greeting will change.  But there are a lot of things, really the most important things, that will remain exactly the same.

You will still find all our locations in the same convenient places they have always been.  As a matter of fact, you will find even more of them.  You will find your personal and commercial accounts all managed with the same ease and efficiency you are used to.  You will find the latest banking technology, online banking and treasury management services that make your day-to-day life easier.

Most important, you will find the people that you have always known, the same friendly, professional bankers who greet you by name, in each of our banking offices.  You will continue to find those same people on the checkout line with you at Publix, at your children’s school PTO meeting, at the soup kitchen, at the Rotary Club, at United Way, and a myriad of other familiar places in our community.  Yes, we are still your neighbors, still your friends, still your personal bankers.

We recognize that change is difficult and over the next few months we all will have to adjust accordingly.  But please keep in mind that at the end of the day, a building is just a building, a name is just a name, and it’s the people with whom you build relationships.  All of us at Florida Gulf Bank have lived “The Power of Personal Service” for more than a decade and while you may not see it in print, we will never stop providing it to you, to our clients, to our staff and to our community.

All the best,

Bill Valenti

President and CEO

Florida Gulf Bank

From the banker’s perspective….

Welcome to Florida Gulf Bank’s new blog and to our very first blog post.  Our tenth anniversary year has been full of exciting milestones: a celebration of 10 years serving our fantastic Southwest Florida community; our renewed dedication to the non-profit organizations we partner with throughout the year; and our new adventure into the world of social media.

The things that make us what we are remain steadfast: our warm, wonderful and professional staff at every level; our commitment to the health and well-being of our community; and our continual efforts to expand and enhance The Power of Personal Service.  We are always delighted to hear from you, our clients, on how to serve you better so feel free to offer your feedback when you visit any of our eight locations or just give me a call any time.

When you have a moment, take a look at our new Facebook page and please join the conversation.  Our feeling is that Facebook gives us one more avenue to help keep in touch with you.  We will share information on special events in our banking offices, link you to the latest news in the financial world, and keep you updated on local community happenings.

What else do we have coming up?  Keep an eye out for more information on Identity Theft – it’s a growing and serious issue that we will be addressing in greater detail in a separate post.  Other posts will include details on how you can streamline your business accounts by using the latest technology.

For now, thanks for reading – we plan to provide you with an informative outlook on banking with a more conversational approach that will encourage you to keep reading and keep communicating with us.

Together, we will build on our banking programs, technology and community relationships and will continue to keep all the lines of communication open – Facebook, blog posts, email, phone and best of all, in person.