Orlando Sentinel

New bank to launch in Orlando

Owners get OK to acquire One South Bank

- By Marco Santana

A financial institutio­n launching in Central Florida will be led by an executive team with deep roots in the region’s banking industry.

The ownership group for One Florida Bank received regulatory approval on Dec. 28 to acquire and change the name of Chipley-based One South Bank, backers of the bank revealed in a news release Monday. The name change will take effect Feb. 25.

Its Chairman and CEO Randy Burden is the former chairman of the board for Old Florida National Bank, a federally chartered institutio­n that was bought by IberiaBank in 2015.

Randy’s son, John Burden, was Old Florida’s president.

“We are extremely happy to have found such a financiall­y sound, well-run bank that was ready to begin their next chapter with our team,” Randy Burden said the release.

Total deposits for One South Bank, which owns a commercial bank charter, totaled $49 million at the time of the acquisitio­n, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporatio­n.

In addition, the company has applied to the FDIC and Florida Office of Financial Regulation for authorizat­ion to open two Central Florida branches — at 1601 S. Orange Ave. in Orlando and 21 E. Third St. in Apopka — in the first quarter of this year.

The bank in Chipley, about 80 miles west of Tallahasse­e, will undergo the name change but remain open, the news release said.

Joining Burden on the executive team is Rick Pullum, who has been in the industry more than 17 years, most recently as Central Florida market president for IberiaBank.

Before that, he was chief commercial banking officer at Old Florida National Bank.

“I couldn’t be more excited about the team we are building and the opportunit­y to provide high-touch local service and local decisions for our clients,” Pullum said in the release.

The new bank is opening as commercial banks nationwide continue a decades-long trend of consolidat­ion.

Last year, the FDIC reported that there were 4,774 commercial banks in the U.S., a 3 percent drop over the previous year.

Over the course of a decade, one-third of all commercial banks had shut down or merged.

Got a news tip? msantana@orlandosen­tinel.com or 407-420-5256; Twitter, @marcosanta­na

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