Jacksonville was known as the banking headquarters of Florida for much of the 20th century, with three major bank headquarters Downtown.
According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s database, there have been 72 banks with a main office in Jacksonville.
However, since 1978, 70 of those “main” offices have closed.
The only remaining banks headquartered in Jacksonville are TIAA and Florida Capital Bank.
The industry’s landscape changed in the 1980s when banks, which had been limited geographically, were allowed to cross state lines.
In the mid-1980s, Florida lawmakers allowed banks to merge with institutions in other Southeastern states. Banks anxious to tap into the lucrative Florida market were eager to take advantage.
The first Florida domino to fall was Sun Bank, which was headquartered in Orlando but had a prominent presence in Jacksonville.
Sun Bank agreed in 1984 to merge with Trust Company of Georgia and Atlanta became the corporate headquarters.
Several mergers later, that bank is now known as Truist.
The first major Jacksonville-based institution to be sold was Atlantic National Bank, which was acquired by Charlotte-based First Union Corp. in 1985.
First Union followed that up by acquiring a second major Jacksonville-based bank, Florida National Bank, in 1990.
After several additional mergers over the next two decades, First Union evolved into Wells Fargo Bank, which today has the largest branch network in the Jacksonville market but is headquartered in San Francisco.
The crown jewel of Florida banking was Jacksonville-based Barnett Bank, which resisted the initial wave of interstate buyouts.
However, after federal legislation allowed full interstate banking in 1994, Barnett was acquired by Charlotte-based NationsBank in 1998.
That bank evolved into Bank of America and Jacksonville’s tallest building, a 42-story Downtown tower opened by Barnett in 1990, is now the Bank of America Tower.
Although the big three Jacksonville-based banks were gone, the trend of industry consolidation continued into the 21st century with numerous acquisitions of smaller banks.
FDIC data shows the number of U.S. banks has dropped by half in the last 20 years, from 9,354 in 2002 to 4,771 today.
The last deal involving a Jacksonville-based bank was Ameris Bancorp’s 2018 purchase of Atlantic Coast Bank.
It was the second acquisition of a Jacksonville bank by Ameris, following its 2016 purchase of The Jacksonville Bank.
Ameris moved its executive offices to Jacksonville after the Jacksonville Bank deal, but its official headquarters remained in Moultrie, Georgia. It moved its executives, and its official headquarters, to Atlanta after another merger in 2019.
That left, officially or unofficially, just TIAA and Florida Capital as the only Jacksonville-based banks.
