2021 U.S. Bank and Credit Union Rankings

S&P Global Market Intelligence released its annual rankings for 2021’s best-performing community banks with assets between $3 billion and $10 billion, community banks with assets below $3 billion, and top-performing credit unions. The organization also introduced a new category – top performing U.S. public banks – that ranks the financial performance of publicly-traded banks with more than $10 billion in total assets at year-end 2021. 

Hingham Institute for Savings earned the top spot among the best-performing community banks with assets between $3 billion and $10 billion. The Hingham, Mass-based bank, which had $3.43 billion in assets year-end 2021, outperformed the industry median in all six-ranking metrics in the rankings methodology and its 20.82% efficiency ratio was the lowest achieved among the top 50 banks in the group. 

< View the 50 best-performing banks with $3 billion to $10 billion in assets. >

Samson, Ala.-based Samson Banking Co., topped the list of community banks with less than $3 billion in assets. Established more than 90 years ago, Samson Banking operates two brick-and-mortar branches in Alabama and outperformed the top 100 median in all six of the ranking metrics. The bank's interest income on commercial and industrial loans more than quadrupled to $1.4 million in 2021, which helped send the company's operating revenue soaring 87.4% last year.

< View the 100 best-performing banks with less than $3 billion in assets. >

S&P Global Market Intelligence ranked the best-performing community banks using six core financial performance metrics that focus on profitability, asset quality and growth for the 12-month period ended Dec. 31, 2021. 

Community banks were defined as institutions with up to $10 billion in assets. To compile this ranking, S&P Global Market Intelligence calculated scores for each company based on six metrics: pretax return on tangible common equity; efficiency ratio; operating revenue growth; net charge-offs to average loans and leases net of Paycheck Protection Program loans ratio; nonperforming assets and loans 90 days or more past due as a percentage of total assets, net of PPP loans; and leverage ratio.

Merchants Bancorp ranked first place among public U.S. banks with more than $10 billion in assets. The Carmel, Ind.-based bank, which had $11.28 billion in assets at year-end 2021, was also among the top three in S&P Global Market Intelligence's 2019 and 2020 community bank rankings. Merchants' total operating revenue has grown by at least 21% annually since 2017 and this performance was one of the main drivers of the bank's 2021 ranking. 

 < View the 50 best-performing public banks. >

S&P Global Market Intelligence ranked the financial performance of operating U.S. public banks with greater than $10 billion in total assets at Dec. 31, 2021, and trading on the Nasdaq, NYSE or NYSEAM. Mutual holding companies and other operating subsidiaries are excluded. Industries are classified according to the Global Industry Classification Standard of S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Companies were ranked based on three major categories, using calendar-year data as well as GAAP data unless otherwise noted: growth, weighted at 35%; profitability, weighted at 35%; and safety and soundness, weighted at 30%.

Philadelphia's Police and Fire Credit Union was this year’s top performing credit union for the second consecutive year. The 83-year-old credit union outperformed the industry median in all five of the ranking metrics in 2021 as its total loans and leases jumped almost 20% last year to $5.84 billion. 

Criteria for the rankings included credit unions with more than $100 million in total assets, net of PPP loans, and a net worth ratio of at least 7% as of Dec. 31, 2021. Based on these criteria, 1,765 credit unions qualified for the ranking.

< View the 100 best-performing credit unions. >