Orlando-headquartered Cogent Bank has opened a full-service banking center in Manatee County. The branch is at 1001 Third Ave. W., Suite 190, in Bradenton.

“Cogent Bank is eager to provide exceptional financial services to the residents of Bradenton and the surrounding regions,” Cogent Bank Senior Vice President Mikel Sharpe says in a statement.

Mikel Sharpe Courtesy image

Sharpe, who is also the market president in Manatee and Sarasota counties, adds: “Our Downtown Bradenton banking center will provide financial services to the local community through our business, personal and private banking services.”

The Bradenton bank can help clients with personal, business, private wealth and residential lending needs. The company’s associates work in traditional and nontraditional verticals, including sports and entertainment, association banking and business aviation lending, among others, according to the statement.

A team of seven local bankers is staffing the Bradenton office, where Sharpe is looking to hire two additional commercial relationship managers before the end of the year.

Cogent Bank has more than $2.2 billion in assets. A state-chartered bank that has operated as a full-service business and personal bank since 2001, the company has banking centers in north, central and southwest Florida.

The Bradenton location completes Cogent Bank’s buildout on the west coast, according to the statement, which says it already has full-service banking centers in Clearwater, Fort Myers, Naples and Tampa as well as a loan production residential lending office in Sarasota.