First NBC in New Orleans hires industry veteran Carl Chaney as its new CEO

First NBC Bank Holding in New Orleans has appointed an industry veteran as its new CEO.

The $4.9 billion-asset company said in a press release Monday that Carl Chaney had agreed to take on the role, pending regulatory approval. Chaney, who is serving as a consultant to First NBC until his appointment is approved, would succeed Buck Moyse, who became interim CEO when Ashton Ryan relinquished the post in December.

Chaney, 55, is vice chairman of JTS Capital Group, a firm created to buy and manage loan portfolios.

He is best known for serving as CEO of Hancock Holding from 2006 to 2014, a period when the Gulfport, Miss., company’s assets grew from $6 billion to $21 billion. He was also at the helm when Hancock bought Whitney Bank.

Chaney “has a proven track record and invaluable industry experience," Shivan Govindan, First NBC's chairman, said in the release. "We look forward to … leveraging his expertise to strengthen First NBC's operational foundation, maintain and grow our customer relationships and enter the next chapter in [our] history.”

The hiring comes weeks after First NBC agreed to sell nine branches and about $1.3 billion in loans to Hancock, a deal that should increase First NBC’s regulatory capital ratios by 300 to 400 basis points. First NBC said on Monday that the transaction is on track to close by the end of March.

Chaney’s hiring is the latest in a series of fast-moving events at the company.

First NBC warned in October that regulators had "deemed it to be in troubled condition." At June 30, First NBC's Tier 1 risk-based ratio and total risk-based capital ratio were both below 7.3%. Earlier this year the company restated several years of financial reports, reducing capital by $99.2 million.

The company disclosed in November that its bank had entered into a consent order that requires it to review its management, loan review and problem-loan identification processes and its loan portfolio policy and procedures. The bank must submit a plan for maintaining a Tier 1 leverage capital ratio of at least 10%, a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of at least 13% and a total risk-based capital ratio of 15% or more.

By December, the company had replaced Ryan as CEO, though he remains the company's president.

First NBC last month disclosed in a regulatory that it expected to record a “material valuation allowance” tied to its deferred-tax asset at Dec. 31. First NBC's call report indicated that its bank lost $58.6 million in the fourth quarter, largely due to a nearly $86 million loan-loss provision. The filing revealed that nonperforming commercial and industrial loans rose 75% from the third quarter, to $229 million at Dec. 31.

On a positive note, First NBC said the Nasdaq had approved its plan for complying with the exchange’s listing rules. Under its plan, the company agreed to file its third-quarter and full-year 2016 reports by April 30.