In 75 years, South Florida has gone from a sleepy retirement destination to a region with multiple booming metros, an influx of high-net-worth individuals, and an incredibly hot real estate market. And in that time, City National Bank has grown from a supportive local bank to a major institution in Florida.
At TRD’s annual South Florida Showcase + Forum, the Brand Studio team spoke with Vice Chairman & CEO Jorge Gonzalez and several of the bank’s developer clients to understand what it takes to grow a family bank into one of the region’s most prominent sources of capital without losing the focus on relationships.
“Jorge runs the bank like a family, and he makes the customer feel like they’re part of the family,” developer Edward Easton told TRD. For Gonzalez’s part, he said that the bank prioritizes being a magnet for talent and strives to be a “catalyst to continue to help Florida grow.”
Real estate has always been an important part of City National Bank’s business. And as the region’s industry booms, Gonzalez estimated that the bank did more than $3B in real estate lending last year alone, with significantly more to come.
Watch the video above as Gonzalez and his team celebrate their 75th anniversary and explain what will come next for one of Florida’s preeminent banking groups.