\u201cHonestly, when I heard what they wanted to do I thought they were crazy because everybody says you can\u2019t start a bank these days and it\u2019s been years since anyone has done it in our area,\u201d says Kneer, an executive at Clearwater-based USAmeriBank, and the institution that bought it, Valley Bank, for nearly 15 years. \u201cI had actually retired from banking at this point, but it was always in the back of my mind that they were doing this interesting thing I really believed in \u2014 that community banks serve a very important purpose that\u2019s just different from these large players who are coming in and acquiring everyone. And I think the markets really really want one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not just an order taker<\/p>\n
Unlike Kneer, now Chief Banking Officer at Echelon, Shaw \u2014 the bank\u2019s president and CEO \u2014 always knew he wanted a career in finance and even served in the financial division of the U.S. Army after graduating from West Point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shaw, 52, has worked in banking in the Tampa Bay region for nearly 30 years, from the private sector to various roles at banks including AmSouth\/Regions Bank; USAmeriBank; Northern Trust; Signature Bank; and Clearwater-based Flagship Bank. Signature, earlier in his career, is where he got his first taste of true local banking, running its Clearwater division.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that experience I knew community banking was where I wanted to stay,\u201d Shaw says. \u201cYou\u2019re able to be much more nimble, more agile and take better care of your clients. You\u2019re much more of a consultant, not just an order taker, and you\u2019re much more empowered to go to a company, tell them what you see that they need and make it happen. There\u2019s no boss in a different state telling you yes or no.\u201d<\/p>\n
The idea of launching his own community bank had been in the back of Shaw\u2019s mind for decades, he says. Around Thanksgiving 2024, Shaw began recruiting a team of former coworkers like Kneer to join him and, by late July, Shaw was able to file a charter for Echelon Bank with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It\u2019s the first de novo bank in Tampa Bay to launch in five years, FDIC records show, and one of a handful of community banks across the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If all goes according to plan, Echelon Bank could be open by late April, Shaw says.<\/p>\n
‘A great flavor’<\/p>\n
Economic conditions are ripe for a new community bank, the duo says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the 2009-10 recession, when bank failures peaked, federal regulators tightened capital requirements. That led to a dearth of de novo banks.<\/p>\n
In recent years, after what Shaw calls a \u201cdeep freeze” in the industry, a few community banks popped up statewide, in places like Sarasota, Naples, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.<\/p>\n
![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/_K9A6293_t850.jpg\" "\\"Chris")
<\/p>\n
Chris Kneer and Rob Shaw say banking industry consolidation has created a strong opportunity for a new community bank in the Tampa region.<\/p>\n
Photo by Mark Wemple\u00a0<\/p>\n
Told in numbers, when he started his career in the early 2000s, there were 315 banks headquartered in Florida, Shaw says. Now, records show, there are 67. That’s a -78.73% drop.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat consolidation is a huge reason why we\u2019re doing what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Shaw says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When it comes to Echelon\u2019s strategy, meanwhile, Shaw says the team wants to be vanilla \u2014 \u201dbut vanilla is a great flavor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The team wants to bank local, owner-managed businesses \u2014 companies that bigger banks often overlook, where decisions to approve loans are often made by someone in a different state they\u2019ll never see, Shaw says. The group also wants to pursue nonprofits, defense contractors, commercial real estate and construction loans and professional executive banking \u2014 the \u201cfolks who need a little bit more white glove service,\u201d Shaw says \u2014 and, of course, individual consumers. Overall, the duo says, Echelon seeks to build multifaceted, deep relationships with clients that will help build both sides of the bank\u2019s balance sheet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crux of it is, you have fewer and fewer banks, they\u2019re getting larger and larger, so it takes more to move the needle,\u201d Shaw says. \u201cThey\u2019re looking for larger loans, larger relationships, and there\u2019s a whole segment of great customers who get left behind and told to call a 1-800 number. What a community bank does is send people out to meet them and really take care of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The strategy is already working: the pair say they have heard from large number of investors turned potential clients asking for loans. \u201cPeople are starved for that relationship and they\u2019ll pay a little bit more for it,\u201d Kneer says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A challenge, one most new banks face, has been navigating the stringent FDIC process to get to opening day. Starting a bank, after all, has some of the highest barriers to entry of any industry in terms of regulations and startup capital, acquiring necessary technology and assembling an approved board of directors.<\/p>\n
That’s one reason many don’t do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Echelon, though, has been met with success. The duo needed to raise at least $23 million to $50 million in capital before the bank\u2019s official launch, and began fundraising in October. So far, Echelon Bank has met about 70% of its goal, with capital raising beginning to accelerate again after the holidays, Shaw says. Shaw, who put up $1 million of his own money in Echelon, says he anticipates meeting the capital goal by the end of this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Work together<\/p>\n
Ariba advisors helped Echelon acquire its technology core, a program used by even multibillion-dollar banks called FIS Horizon that will enable more consumer-friendly digital banking.<\/p>\n
Echelon also plans to have a handful of brick and mortar locations. That includes two so far, one in Tampa near the intersection of Bayshore and Bay to Bay Boulevard and the other, main location in Feather Sound in Pinellas County \u2014 a location chosen for its centrality in the Tampa Bay region.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With their varied experiences at numerous banks over the years, Shaw and Kneer say Echelon Bank is the cherry picked version of the ideal bank they always wanted to work at. The philosophy is even reflected in their name, Shaw says: Echelon is a cycling term that describes the way a group rides in formations when the crosswinds blow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not just a lone rider out there doing your thing, but you become part of a team and everybody\u2019s rotating,\u201d Shaw says. \u201cYou end up seeing these cool Echelon formations, the same way birds fly and bees. It\u2019s all about working together as a group, moving forward toward a goal, and moving farther and faster than you could alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
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