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Mark Freerks

Jaime Ortega Jr., Apollo Bank senior VP of global banking, and Eddy Arriola, bank chairman.

 

Brian Bandell

Senior Reporter-South Florida Business Journal

Apollo Bank is expanding its international banking as it plans a capital raise to continue its growth.

The Miami-based bank finished 2012 with $252 million in assets and $150 million in loans – up 21 percent and 26 percent, respectively, during the year. Apollo Bank Chairman Eddy Arriola, who led a recapitalization and rebranding of the bank in 2010, said the existing investors plan to inject $10 million by the end of the year.

“It’s to help us grow in the next two to three years,” Arriola said. “And if there are smaller banks that want to merge or sell, we have access to additional capital.”

International clients targeted

International clients are among the key targets for Apollo Bank. While some local banks don’t do much international business, often citing the high cost of compliance with Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering regulations, Apollo Bank believes the costs are worth it.

“You can’t be a community bank in Miami without incorporating the international sector,” Arriola said.

These clients are based in other countries, but they have second homes or businesses here and need a local account. Apollo Bank can make loans based on their U.S. assets, a practice some banks won’t do for people who work outside the country. Apollo Bank has been referred loans by large global banks that wouldn’t do them, Arriola said.

The bank recently hired international banking veteran Jaime Ortega Jr. as its senior VP of global banking. Ortega said that, in addition to investors fleeing Spain, the growing markets in South and Central America are the bank’s main targets.

He said BSA compliance is something Apollo Bank can handle.

“We have regional banks that look at Florida as a deposit-rich state and they want to come here, but when they go south of Orlando, it’s like coming into another country because it’s truly a melting pot for Hispanics from all over Latin America,” Ortega said. “So when a bank from North Carolina that has never done international business comes to Miami, their view would be totally different from people who lived here all their lives and acquired that international flavor.”

Eventually, Apollo Bank will support foreign trade finance, but it needs to hire a specialized team first, Ortega added.

THE DETAILS:

Jaime Ortega Jr., Apollo Bank’s senior VP of global banking, discusses some of the countries where his bank draws customers from:

• Dominican Republic: “The outlook is fair. I don’t expect any political or economic upheaval.”
• Colombia: “It is doing extremely well and signed a free trade agreement with the U.S. last year.”
• Ecuador: “It has Rafael Correa as its president and it’s a member of the ILVA group. These are countries that have left-leaning presidents. However, if you take a look at what Correa has done, it hasn’t been that bad. He’s done a lot of infrastructure and public works.”
• Venezuela: “We will have to see what happens after the election. Will we see more capital exit? Probably, but I think it will be increasingly harder for Venezuelan nationals to take capital out of the country. We have to be very careful with Bank Secrecy Act policies because Venezuela is considered high risk.”
• Peru: “It is doing extremely well. It has a 4.5 to 5 percent GDP growth rate.”
• Argentina: “It’s a mess right now. I don’t see their economy moving forward in the next 24 months.”
• Spain: “They have an almost 30 percent unemployment rate, and the financial system was hit hard by the recession. You have a lot of investors from Spain in Miami, and you will see a lot more. A lot of Spanish professionals are migrating here, looking for work.”