Newly Introduced Category to include Top Performing U.S. Public Banks

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.

S&P Global Market Intelligence launched the rankings more than a decade ago to assess the performance of community banks and credit unions. The division ranks institutions based on returns, growth and efficiency but places a premium on the strength and risk profile of balance sheets.

“Banks and credit unions support our country’s economic growth and stability which has been critical over the last year. Small business continues to drive the American economy and community banks and credit unions make up the engine that drives small business. We’re delighted to see the success of these regional banks, community banks and credit unions as they continue to be well-utilized in their markets during economic uncertainty and we’re proud to recognize these top performers in our annual rankings,” said Jimmy Pittenger, Senior Director of Financial Institutions at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

Click here to access the full list of top performing U.S. public banks, community banks and credit unions for 2021.

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