Foreign Banks Step Up Miami Office Presence

MIAMI—Scores of international banks have opened offices in Miami since the Florida International Bankers Association was founded in 1979. But with the flood of foreign investors acquiring condos, snapping up office buildings and developing multimillion-dollar commercial properties, 2012 has seen a flood of recent office lease transactions from the international finance sector.

Banco de Crédito e Inversiones, Chile’s fourth-largest bank, is the latest to expand its office presence in Miami, settling into 22,567 square feet at the Southeast Financial Center. The deal doubles the size of the bank’s office footprint in Miami and brings the tower’s total leases to the international finance sector to 124,353 square feet so far this year.