RankingBanking 26 Digital - Flipbook - Page 4
2
Back to Basics
By Jackie Stewart
I
started writing about banks
Crowe, is Bank Director’s annual analysis of
more than a decade ago, and a
the 300 largest publicly traded banks. This
constant in my career has been
year’s ranking uses year-end 2025 results and
talk about the significant up-
is based on metrics related to profitability, cap-
heaval the industry is facing. And
ital and credit quality. It is compiled by Piper
there have been a lot of changes:
Sandler & Co. using data from S&P Global
post-financial crisis regulations,
Market Intelligence.
massive consolidation, Covid-19
Of course, other factors are important in
and historically low interest rates
banking. Generating strong fee income can pro-
followed by crippling inflation.
vide stability to a bank’s earnings, for instance.
Now, banks are staring down the
But the spread income remains an important
potential effects of artificial intelligence and
component for banks, with the strength of a
stablecoin.
bank’s deposits playing a significant role. “I
Despite all of this, another thing remains
don’t think it’s a secret that if you have strong,
true: Good old-fashioned banking never goes
stable deposits, you’ll have an easier time with
out of style. And that is the art of lending mon-
expanding your margin and expanding your
ey to borrowers at higher rates than you are
profitability,” says Patrick Vernon, an advi-
paying out for deposits. A bank’s success in this
sory partner at Crowe Advisory. That issue is
can be found in its net interest margin (NIM).
explored in more depth in this report.
The results for this year’s RankingBanking
This year, we also examined how different
offer a nod to this. The top 25 performers had
regional economies can affect the financial re-
a stronger median net interest margin than the
sults of banks. That feature can be found within
rest of the institutions featured on the list.
these pages, in addition to profiles on two
“I think the banks that connect the loan and
banks, Commerce Bancshares and SouthState
deposit relationship together” are the ones
Bank Corp. And new this year, Bank Director
that are most successful, says Kara Baldwin,
broke out the institutions by state, exclusively
a partner and the financial services audit lead
on BankDirector.com, so our readers could
at Crowe, a professional services firm. “So, it’s
more easily see where they landed in the overall
saying, ‘We’ll give you this great loan, and we’ll
ranking of 300 institutions.
structure it in this way that you are looking for,
but you need to bring the deposit relationship.’”
RankingBanking, which is sponsored by
Jackie Stewart is executive editor of Bank Director.
