Top Private Companies 2025 New Orleans area banks report revenue increases New Orleans CityBusiness

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All four private company banks report revenue increases in this year’s “Top Private Companies.”

Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Co. – one of the largest community banks in Louisiana – reports its second consecutive year-over-year double-digit increase, improving 13% from $301 million in revenue in 2023, up to $341 million in 2024 revenue. Gulf Coast Bank also improved 17% in revenue from 2022-23, leading to a 33% revenue increase over the last two years.

Gulf Coast Bank has over $3 billion in assets and 20 bank branches across Louisiana and Florida. With 924 employees, including 428 in the metro New Orleans area, the bank serves business and personal banking clients through its bank branches, loan production offices, trust and investment offices, and business credit offices.

In 2022, Gulf Coast Bank acquired the assets of 35-year-old KLC Financial, a Minneapolis-based equipment finance company for small to mid-ticket equipment to small and medium-sized businesses. The acquisition continued a nationwide diversification strategy for Gulf Coast Bank, which now owns two companies in Phoenix (workout restructuring company and trucking industry financing company); a manufacturing finance company in Orlando; an SBA lending company in Dallas; and a recently-purchased commercial lending company in Atlanta.

“We have seen a lot of growth in commercial lending and leasing, and we added a new product with purchase order financing. We are proud of the niche of products that we offer, and that portfolio diversification has helped lead to higher revenue as well,” said Guy Williams, President & CEO of Gulf Coast Bank & Trust. “In 2024, we opened our first branch in Florida (Miramar Beach) because we have watched deposit growth and population trends warrant that expansion.”

First American Bank and Trust reports $60 million of revenue in 2024, up 5% from the 2023 revenue of $57.2 million. Founded in 1910 in Vacherie, FABT has grown from four offices in St. James Parish to a total of 25 offices extending to Lafourche, St. Charles, Jefferson, St. John, Assumption, Ascension, Tangipahoa, East Baton Rouge, St. Tammany, and Terrebonne. The bank has more than $1 million in assets, and provides personal and business banking products, along with loans and investment services.

Resource Bank continues this year’s increases with a 13% revenue improvement, from $47.4 million in 2023, up to $53.5 million in 2024. In 2023, Resource Bank celebrated its 25th anniversary. Resource Bank, servicing personal and commercial customers, has branches across Louisiana, including seven on the North Shore, two on the South Shore, and one in Baton Rouge. Resource

Bank is community-owned by more than 450 shareholders with no shareholder owning more than 10%.

Metairie Bank & Trust Co. saw the highest revenue percentage increase in 2024 among this year’s top private company banks. Metairie Bank reports a 21% increase, jumping from $27.3 million in 2023 to $33.1 million in revenue in 2024. It’s the second consecutive year for a double-digit percentage increase for Metairie Bank as there was an 18% revenue increase from 2022-23. Over the last two years, Metairie Bank’s revenue has increased 43%.

“Metairie Bank was built on developing relationships with our customers and understanding the financial needs of our community residents and businesses. We continue to build upon that foundation to sustain our market growth,” said John LeBlanc, Metairie Bank & Trust CEO. “On the commercial side, we have specialized in real estate secured lending, and being a community bank with local lenders making local decisions has helped our growth in that business.”

Metairie Bank was the first bank on the East Bank of Jefferson Parish. It has operated from its Metairie headquarters since 1947, and now has seven branches on the South Shore and two branches on the North Shore. Metairie Bank serves businesses and individuals in a full range of banking, loan, and investment services.

In 2024, Metairie Bank opened its first Covington branch at 70496 Hwy. 21. The bank started renovations to its David Drive Branch (7048 Veterans Memorial Blvd).

“We are proud of the state-of-the-art branch we built in Covington, and it’s important to us to continue to invest in enhancements at our other branches,” said LeBlanc. “People come into our branches for different reasons than they did 20 years ago. Some still come for transactions, but now it’s more to receive consultation, financial education, or online assistance, and we are ready to help improve our customers’ entire financial well-being.”

Williams said Gulf Coast Bank has also invested in financial education resources, along with investments in technology and fraud prevention for customers. “We continue to make it a focus to be the best trusted financial advisor to our customers that we can be, and that’s important in the current world and economic climate that we live in.”

Williams and LeBlanc both agree that rising insurance costs are a major challenge in the banking industry. LeBlanc said insurance is one of the major topics that is brought up at local government meetings and banking industry organization conferences.

“We have a huge crisis in insurance affordability and availability, both on the personal and business side,” said LeBlanc. “As an employer, you always want to make sure that your employees can own a home, drive a car, and take care of their health, all in an affordable manner. Unfortunately, I see it first-hand among our employees and from our customers that insurance is at a crisis level, and we need to do something at the legislature to change the trajectory.”

Increased government regulations on financial institutions are also an industry concern as regulatory pressure can impact banks’ operational costs and lending decisions, affecting availability and affordability of credit, said Williams. “Too much regulation by Washington can hurt banks and trickle down to negatively impact our customers. Those increased operational costs to comply, and now more risk-averse decisions, because of the increased regulatory pressure, can unfortunately affect smaller loans and the small business population.”

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