$1.1B St. Pete community bank expands into health care lending

BayFirst National Bank, headquartered in St.Pete, is increasing its service offerings by branching into health care business lending.

The bank's first move in that space was to name Phil Russo senior vice president, a title he previously held at United Community Bank, Southstate Bank and First Citizens Bank.

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Russo’s previous roles culminate in 25 years of experience in the community banking sector, according to a statement. As SVP, he will be the director of health care lending. He is tasked with overseeing the financial products and services geared toward the medical industry which will be provided across a dozen branches in the Tampa Bay Area. He will also be in charge of building out the bank’s treasury team to meet the upcoming needs of clients in the health services field.

“Phil brings vast knowledge of the complex issues facing medical service providers to this role, which will enable us to better serve the specific needs of these businesses,” says BayFirst CEO Thomas Zernick in the statement. “His experience will significantly benefit our team as well as this critical sector of our state’s economy, and I look forward to seeing him drive results to help us increase our overall impact and success.”

BayFirst National Bank, a subsidiary of BayFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: BAFN), was founded in 1999 and has grown to operate 12 banking centers with assets totaling $1.14 billion. The Small Business Administration ranked BayFirst as the No. 7 largest lender of SBA loans in the country, approving 2,694 loans totaling $495,181,900 in 2023.