Ameris Bancorp is a regional bank holding company operating through its subsidiary Ameris Bank, which provides commercial and retail banking services across Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina through 163 branches and roughly $27.5B in total assets. The core business is traditional community banking — taking in deposits and making commercial and consumer loans — with commercial real estate as the largest component of the loan portfolio, alongside C&I, construction, and specialty lending. Ameris makes money primarily through net interest income, the spread between loan and investment yields and deposit costs. A key competitive advantage is its high share of noninterest-bearing deposits (~29% of total deposits), which directly supports the net interest margin. Beyond core banking, Ameris runs a mortgage banking division that originates and sells residential mortgages in the secondary market, with revenues sensitive to the level of the 30-year mortgage rate. Ameris also operates Balboa Capital, a small-ticket equipment finance business serving small businesses nationwide, and an insurance premium finance business originating short-duration commercial insurance loans. Ameris positions itself as a decentralized community bank, where local market presidents retain meaningful lending authority — a model management argues enables deeper customer relationships versus larger competitors. Growth strategy is explicitly organic-first, targeting market share gains in high-growth Southeastern markets amid consolidation among regional competitors, with M&A treated as a low priority.