Amerant Bancorp Inc

In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or Form 10-K, unless otherwise required by the context, the terms “we,” “our,” “us,”, “Amerant”, and the “Company,” refer to Amerant Bancorp Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries including its wholly-owned main operating subsidiary, Amerant Bank, N.A., which we individually refer to as “the Bank”.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Various of the statements made in this Form 10-K, including information incorporated herein by reference to other documents, are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of, and subject to, the protections of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”).

Forward-looking statements include statements with respect to our beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, expectations, anticipations, assumptions, estimates, intentions and future performance and condition, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may be beyond our control, and which may cause the actual results, performance, achievements, or financial condition of the Company to be materially different from future results, performance, achievements, or financial condition expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. You should not expect us to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should be read together with the “Risk Factors” included in this Form 10-K and our other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).

All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be forward-looking statements. You can identify these forward-looking statements through our use of words such as “may,” “will,” “anticipate,” “assume,” “seek,” “should,” “indicate,” “would,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “consider”, “expect,” “estimate,” “continue,” “plan,” “point to,” “project,” “could,” “intend,” “target”, “goals”, “outlooks”, “modeled”, “dedicated”, “create” and other similar words and expressions of the future. These forward-looking statements may not be realized due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation:

•Liquidity risks could affect our operations and jeopardize our financial condition and certain funding sources could increase our interest rate expense;

•We may not be able to develop and maintain a strong core deposit base or other low-cost funding sources;

•We may elect or be compelled to seek additional capital in the future, but that capital may not be available when it is needed or on acceptable terms;

•Our ability to receive dividends from our subsidiaries could affect our liquidity and our ability to pay dividends;

•Our profitability is subject to interest rate risk;

•Our allowance for credit losses may prove inadequate;

•Our concentration of CRE loans could result in increased loan losses;

•Many of our loans are to commercial borrowers, which have unique risks compared to other types of loans;

•Our valuation of securities and the determination of a credit loss allowance in our investment securities portfolio are subjective and, if changed, could materially adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition;

•Nonperforming and similar assets take significant time to resolve and may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows;

•We are subject to environmental liability risk associated with lending activities;

•Weakness in the demand for mortgage loans or in the secondary market for residential mortgage loans can adversely affect us.

•Many of our major systems depend on and are operated by third-party vendors, and any systems failures or interruptions could adversely affect our operations and the services we provide to our customers;

•Our information systems are exposed to cybersecurity threats and may experience interruptions and security breaches that could adversely affect our business and reputation;

•Our strategic plan and growth strategy may not be achieved as quickly or as fully as we seek;

•Defaults by or deteriorating asset quality of other financial institutions could adversely affect us;

•New lines of business, new products and services, or strategic project initiatives may subject us to additional risks;

•We are susceptible to operational risks in general and fraudulent risk in particular;

•We may not have the ability or resources to keep pace with rapid technological changes in the financial services industry or implement new technology effectively;

•Conditions in Venezuela could adversely affect our operations;

•We are subject to environmental, social and governance, or ESG, risks, many of which are outside of our control, that could harm our reputation, our business, operations, financial condition, and/or the price of our common stock;

•We may be unable to attract and retain key people to support our business;

•Severe weather, natural disasters, global pandemics, acts of war or terrorism, theft, civil unrest, government expropriation or other external events could have significant effects on our business;

•Any failure to protect the confidentiality of customer information could adversely affect our reputation and subject us to financial sanctions and other costs that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows;

•We could be required to write down our goodwill or other intangible assets;

•We have a net deferred tax asset that may or may not be fully realized;

•We may incur losses due to minority investments in fintech and specialty finance companies;

•We are subject to risks associated with sub-leasing portions of our corporate headquarters building;

•Our success depends on our ability to compete effectively in highly competitive markets;

•Potential gaps in our risk management policies and internal audit procedures may leave us exposed to unidentified or unanticipated risk, which could negatively affect our business;

•Any failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could impair the reliability of our financial statements, which in turn could harm our business, impair investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and our access to the capital markets and cause the price of our common stock to decline and subject us to regulatory penalties;

•Changes in accounting standards could materially impact our financial statements;

•Material and negative developments adversely impacting the financial services industry at large and causing volatility in financial markets and the economy may have materially adverse effects on our liquidity, business, financial condition and results of operations;

•Our business may be adversely affected by economic conditions in general and by conditions in the financial markets;

•We are subject to extensive regulation that could limit or restrict our activities and adversely affect our earnings;

•There is uncertainty surrounding the potential legal, regulatory and policy changes by the presidential administration in the United States that may directly affect financial institutions;

•Changes in federal, state or local tax laws, or audits from tax authorities, could negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows;

•Litigation and regulatory investigations are increasingly common in our businesses and may result in significant financial losses and/or harm to our reputation;

•We are subject to capital adequacy and liquidity standards, and if we fail to meet these standards, whether due to losses, growth opportunities or an inability to raise additional capital or otherwise, our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows would be adversely affected;

•Increases in FDIC deposit insurance premiums and assessments could adversely affect our financial condition;

•Federal banking agencies periodically conduct examinations of our business, including our compliance with laws and regulations, and our failure to comply with any regulatory actions, if any, could adversely impact us;

•The Federal Reserve may require us to commit capital resources to support the Bank;

•We may face higher risks of noncompliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering statutes and regulations than other financial institutions;

•Failures to comply with the fair lending laws, CFPB regulations or the Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA, could adversely affect us;

•Our principal shareholders and management own a significant percentage of our shares of voting common stock and will be able to exert significant control over matters subject to shareholder approval;

•The rights of our common shareholders are subordinate to the holders of any debt securities that we have issued or may issue from time to time;

•The stock price of financial institutions, like Amerant, may fluctuate significantly;

•We can issue additional equity securities, which would lead to dilution of our issued and outstanding Class A common stock;

•Certain provisions of our amended and restated articles of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, Florida law, and U.S. banking laws could have anti-takeover effects;

•We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our debt, including the Subordinated Notes and the Debentures;

•We are a holding company with limited operations and depend on our subsidiaries for the funds required to make payments of principal and interest on the Subordinated Notes and the Debentures;

•We may incur a substantial level of debt that could materially adversely affect our ability to generate sufficient cash to fulfill our obligations under the Subordinated Notes and the Debentures; and

•The other factors and information in this Form 10-K and other filings that we make with the SEC under the Exchange Act and Securities Act. See “Risk Factors” in this Form 10-K.

The foregoing factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read together with the other cautionary statements included in this Form 10-K. Because of these risks and other uncertainties, our actual future financial condition, results, performance or achievements, or industry results, may be materially different from the results indicated by the forward-looking statements in this Form 10-K. In addition, our past results of operations are not necessarily indicative of our future results of operations. You should not rely on any forward-looking statements as predictions of future events.

All written or oral forward-looking statements that are made by us or are attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary note. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update, revise or correct any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.