Turnaround Success – U.S. Century Bank
By:
Jeffrey P. Marsico
Robert E. Kafafian
Guest: Luis F. “Lou” de la Aguilera, President, CEO & Director of USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiary, U.S. Century Bank (collectively “USCB”)
Podcast Show Notes:
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Topic: Turnaround Success – U.S. Century Bank
USCB is one of the largest community banks headquartered in the Miami-Dade metro area, as well as one of the largest community banks in the state of Florida. As of December 31, 2022, the Company had $2.09B in assets and a 1.01% ROAA for the year of 2022. The Bank is considered to be a prominent player in the marketplace, with a broad range of services for small-to-medium sized businesses, as well as serving foreign entities and customers through its Global Banking unit. USCB is a significantly changed financial institution from a decade ago when the Company was on the brink of collapse due to deterioration in credit quality stemming from the 2008-2009 economic and financial crisis. As a result, the Bank was placed under a Consent Order in 2011 by regulators for unsound and unsafe banking practices. Through recapitalization, changes in management, and restructuring of the loan portfolio, the Bank was transformed and has returned to profitability, in addition to having the Consent Order lifted in 2016. Since that time, USCB has been consistently and increasingly profitable. Our podcast guest, Lou de la Aguilera, President, CEO & Director of USCB, was hired in December 2015 and led the turnaround. Lou joins us on this episode to tell the story of the Bank’s success. Listen and enjoy!
Biography
Luis F. “Lou” de la Aguilera
President, CEO & Director
U.S. Century Bank
Mr. Luis F. de la Aguilera, also known as Lou, has been Chief Executive Officer and President at USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. (formerly known as U.S. Century Bank) since December 21, 2015. Mr. de la Aguilera was Executive Vice President of Corporate Lending at TotalBank since 2000. He served as the President and Chief Marketing Officer of TotalBank since September 2009 and served as its Chief Executive Officer from October 2013 until December 2015. He is an experienced Miami banker, having worked at Miami-based Ocean Bank before joining TotalBank. He has been vice president at several recognized financial institutions, including Republic National Bank of Miami and Universal National Bank. In his last position, where he served as senior vice president and assistant branch administrator at a large community bank, he was responsible for overseeing operations of the branch administration division. He has been actively involved in the community and has served on the Board of Directors of both the Dade County Education Fund and the US-Spain Chamber of Commerce. He has been a Director of USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. (formerly known as U.S. Century Bank) since March 13, 2017. He is a Member of the Advisory Board for Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. He served as Director of Totalbank until December 2015. Mr. de la Aguilera earned a B.A. degree in English Literature with a minor in Business Administration from the University of Miami in 1981.
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Watch for episode 87 of This Month in Banking to be released on Wednesday, March 29th, 2023, and a new episode on the last Wednesday of every month.
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