Amerant's CEO reset credit culture after NPAs hit $187M — now drifting down (interview)

Amerant Bancorp, a $10.3 billion-asset Coral Gables, Florida bank, hit its credit crisis in late 2025: nonperforming assets jumped to $140 million in Q3 from $98 million the prior quarter, and CEO Jerry Plush stepped down about a week after the earnings report, costing $3.8 million in separation costs. Piper Sandler analysts wrote that rising problem CRE and commercial loans had 'put pressure on management credibility.'

Carlos Iafigliola, interim CEO from November 2025 and named CEO in May, told Banking Dive the response was explicit: a third-party review in Q4 2025 analyzing 'every single loan,' a retooled credit team, exits of riskier exposures and a new chief credit officer, Lee Ann Cragg. NPAs consequently jumped further in Q4, to about $187 million — the honest marking he says set up the recovery. This year the bank revamped credit policies and internal systems, and says it is 'progressively changing the internal culture around how we embrace credit risk.'

By Q2 2026 the numbers were turning, per the bank: NPAs dipped $5 million to $186.6 million, or 1.81% of total assets from 1.93% in Q1, while gross loans grew about $112 million to $6.9 billion. Amerant also simplified into two business lines — international and domestic — and is now pushing commercial growth with C&I production and residential mortgages, targeting logistics, education and professional-services firms with roughly $50 million or less in revenue in south Florida and Tampa.

NPAs down to $186.6M and 1.81% of assets (from 1.93%); gross loans +$112M to $6.9B; Venezuela deposits +$500M to $2.5B (self-reported in the interview plus bank earnings)

Problem CRE and commercial loans piled up faster than the old credit culture could catch, ending the prior CEO's tenure.

Iafigliola commissioned a third-party review of every single loan rather than a sample, surfacing the full problem at once.

The bank paired the cleanup with exits of riskier exposures and a new chief credit officer to hold the line.

When problem loans break management credibility, review every loan with outside eyes and let the number get worse before it gets better; a credit culture is a retooling job, not a quarter's patch.

The bank reported Q3 2026 earnings on October 23. Iafigliola says there is 'still more work to do' but the foundation is set; Venezuelan deposits — up almost $500 million quarter-over-quarter to $2.5 billion — are a growth engine he calls 'operating deposits tied to essential industries,' while domestic deposits slipped about 2% to $5.13 billion.