S&P Global Market Intelligence has released its annual rankings of 2018’s best-performing banks in three categories: community banks with assets between $3 billion and $10 billion, community banks with assets less than $3 billion, and top-performing credit unions.
Southfield, Mich.-based Sterling Bancorp Inc. retained its No. 1 position as the best-performing large U.S. community bank in 2018, bolstered by stellar earnings and cost controls. Among the top 50 list, Sterling Bancorp reported the second-highest annual return on average tangible common equity, or ROATCE, at 29.19% and the fourth-best efficiency ratio at 34.83%. Most of Sterling Bancorp's 30 branches are in California, particularly the San Francisco metro area. It also has a presence in New York and Washington, in addition to its home state.
View the 50 best-performing banks with $3 billion to $10 billion in assets.
Park State Bank, a 100-year-old lender in Minnesota, topped S&P Global Market Intelligence's ranking of the top 100 U.S. community banks under $3 billion in assets. The Duluth-based bank operates four brick-and-mortar branches off the shores of Lake Superior, along with another location in Minneapolis. Park State remained highly profitable in 2018, recording a return on average tangible common equity, or ROATCE, of 26.31%, while maintaining a 55.25% efficiency ratio. The bank's credit portfolio contains a mix of residential mortgages, commercial real estate, and commercial and industrial loans.
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, 2018.
Community banks were defined as institutions with up to $10 billion in assets. In order for a bank to be eligible for the rankings, at least one-third of its balance sheet must be composed of loans, less than half of which could be attributable to credit card lending. Eligible banks had to be well-capitalized according to regulatory standards and could not have a majority of revenue derived from nontraditional banking activities.
Alexandria, Va.-based United States Senate FCU was named the top-performing credit union. The institution met or beat the top-50 median in four of the five ranking metrics, and posted the strongest market growth rate in the 2018 ranking. United States Senate FCU was formed in 1935 to serve the needs of the U.S. Senate.
S&P Global Market Intelligence ranked the nation's credit unions using five core financial performance metrics: member growth, market growth, operating expense as a percentage of operating revenue, net charge-offs as a percentage of average loans and delinquent loans as a percentage of total loans. To be eligible for the ranking, a credit union had to report more than $500 million in total assets and a net worth ratio of at least 7.0% as of Dec. 31, 2018.