USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. serve as the holding company for the U.S. Century Bank (the ‘bank’) that provides a wide range of personal and business banking products and services.
The bank commenced operations in October 2002 and is a Florida state-chartered, non-Federal Reserve System member bank.
Strategy
The company’s strategy in becoming a publicly traded company and forming a BHC was to continue pursuing organic growth, as well as strategic acquisitions if the opportunity arises, which...
USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. serve as the holding company for the U.S. Century Bank (the ‘bank’) that provides a wide range of personal and business banking products and services.
The bank commenced operations in October 2002 and is a Florida state-chartered, non-Federal Reserve System member bank.
Strategy
The company’s strategy in becoming a publicly traded company and forming a BHC was to continue pursuing organic growth, as well as strategic acquisitions if the opportunity arises, which efforts will be further facilitated by access to public capital and the added flexibility provided by a holding company structure.
Products and Services
Lending Services
The company focuses on serving small-to-medium sized businesses (‘SMBs’) and catering to the needs of local business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals in South Florida. It has further leveraged its success in providing comprehensive banking solutions to SMBs to also secure the personal retail deposit relationships of the owners, operators, and employees of its commercial lending clients, which has been a cornerstone of its deposit growth strategy.
In addition to the company’s traditional commercial banking services, it is among a select number of banks of its size within its market area that can offer certain specialty banking products, services, and solutions designed for small businesses, homeowner associations, law firms, medical practices, and other professional services firms, as well as global banking services. The company’s major specialty banking offerings include the following:
Small Business Administration (‘SBA’) lending: The company’s SBA platform originates loans under Sections 7(a) and 504 of the SBA program. The 7(a) loan program, SBA's most common loan program, includes financial help for small businesses with special requirements, while the 504 loan program provides long-term, fixed-rate financing of up to $5.0 million for major fixed assets that promote business growth and job creation.
Yacht lending: The company’s yacht lending vertical provides yacht financing for larger vessels; transactions range from $750 thousand to $7.5 million. It targets high net-worth clients, in one of the most active yacht markets in the country.
Homeowner Association (‘HOA’) services: The company provides banking services to HOAs and property managers, including deposit collection, lockbox services, payment services, and lending products. Launched in 2016, it offers its HOA customers a unique combination of market knowledge of a local bank, and a highly personalized ‘white glove’ approach to customer service.
Jurist Advantage and Private Client Group services: The company’s Jurist Advantage and Private Client Group vertical provides customized banking solutions for law firms, as well as their partners, associates, staff, and high net-worth clients. It also leverages its relationships with its law firm clients to generate personal deposit accounts.
Correspondent Banking services: The company’s Global Banking vertical provides correspondent banking services for banks headquartered in certain Latin America and the Caribbean countries. It also cross-sells its correspondent banking relationships to generate international personal banking clients for its bank. The company’s compliance team is experienced in issues related to correspondent banking, and it maintains frequent and regular open communication with its correspondent bank clients to ensure proper compliance controls are maintained at such institutions.
Deposit Products
The company offers traditional deposit products, including commercial and consumer checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit with a variety of terms and rates, as well as a robust suite of treasury, commercial payments, and cash management services. Additionally, it offers insured cash sweep (‘ICS’) and certificate of deposit account registry service (‘CDARS’) deposit products that are FDIC-insured for its clients. Furthermore, it offers deposit products for municipalities and other public entities. The company’s deposit products are mainly offered across its primary geographic footprint.
Title Services
Florida Peninsula Title LLC is a subsidiary of the bank that offers the company’s clients title insurance policies for real estate transactions closed at the bank. Licensed in the State of Florida and approved by the Florida Department of Insurance Regulation, Florida Peninsula Title LLC began operations in 2021. The company’s title service business not only provides diversification for non-interest income, but also provides its clients with access to title insurance services.
Markets
The company’s primary banking market is South Florida. South Florida has rapidly emerged as a top destination for financial institutions, driven by a combination of factors that foster economic growth and stability. The region offers a low-tax environment, a robust business infrastructure, and access to a diverse talent pool. With a thriving real estate market, strong international trade connections, and an increasing concentration of tech and finance sectors, South Florida provides a dynamic ecosystem for financial services. The company’s largest concentration is in the Miami metropolitan statistical area; however, it is also focused on growth in other urban Florida markets in which it has a presence, such as Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Investment Portfolio
As of December 31, 2024, the company's investment portfolio included the U.S. Government Agency, collateralized mortgage obligations, mortgage-backed securities - residential, mortgage-backed securities - commercial, municipal securities, and bank subordinated debt securities.
Regulation and Supervision
As a Florida-chartered state bank, the U.S. Century Bank is subject to ongoing and comprehensive supervision, regulation, examination, and enforcement by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (‘FDIC’) and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (‘FOFR’). The FOFR supervises and regulates all areas of the company’s operations, including, without limitation, the making of loans, the issuance of securities, the conduct of its corporate affairs, the satisfaction of capital adequacy requirements, the payment of dividends, and the establishment or closing of banking centers. In addition, its deposit accounts are insured by the Deposit Insurance Fund (the ‘DIF’) administered by the FDIC to the maximum extent permitted by law, and the FDIC has certain supervisory and enforcement powers over it.
The company, which controls the U.S. Century Bank, is a bank holding company and, as such, is subject to ongoing and comprehensive supervision, regulation, examination, and enforcement by the Federal Reserve.
The company files quarterly consolidated reports of condition and income, or call reports, with the FDIC and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (‘FOFR’).
Banking laws generally restrict the ability of the company to engage in activities other than those determined by the Federal Reserve to be so closely related to banking as to be a proper incident thereto.
Furthermore, under applicable FDIC regulations and policy, because U.S. Century Bank has negative retained earnings, it must obtain the prior approval of the FDIC before effecting a cash dividend or other capital distribution.
The company is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank (‘FHLB’) of Atlanta, which is one of 11 regional FHLBs.
The company and its affiliates have adopted policies, procedures, and controls designed to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, as amended (‘BSA’), the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (the ‘AML Act’), the Corporate Transparency Act (the ‘CTA’), and the USA PATRIOT Act.
The company’s loan operations are also subject to federal laws applicable to credit transactions, such as: the Truth-In-Lending Act (‘TILA’), and Regulation Z; the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 and Regulation C; the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B; the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1978, as amended by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, and Regulation V; the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Regulation F; and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (‘RESPA’), and Regulation X.
The company’s deposit operations are also subject to federal laws, such as: the FDIA; the Right to Financial Privacy Act; Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (also known as ‘Check 21’); the Electronic Funds Transfer Act and Regulation E; and the Truth in Savings Act and Regulation DD.
Under the privacy protection provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (the ‘GLB Act’) and related laws and regulations, including Florida laws, the company is limited in its ability to disclose non-public information about consumers to non-affiliated third parties.
The company is also subject to certain requirements and reporting obligations under the federal Community Reinvestment Act (‘CRA’). It is also subject to analogous state CRA requirements in Florida and certain other states in which it may establish branch offices. In connection with their assessments of CRA performance, the FDIC and FOFR assign a rating of ‘outstanding,’ ‘satisfactory,’ ‘needs to improve,’ or ‘substantial noncompliance.’ The company received a ‘satisfactory’ CRA Assessment Rating from both regulatory agencies in its most recent CRA examinations in 2023.
History
USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2002. The company, a Florida corporation, was incorporated in 2021.