Best and Worst Banks for the Year

Last year, with so many bank failures, people are apprehensive about opening accounts with banks. Some banks have survived the crisis while others have simply given in to the economic pressure. Why some have survived while others have perished is something that we need to reflect upon. Here is a discussion on the top banks and bottom banks for this year. By predicting the success or failure of a bank you can think of making or not making investments in them.

Best Banks

• Bank Of Hawaii is the best bank according to the Forbes List for this year which seems to have survived the economic crisis with its traditional loan policies while other banks were lured to new age real estate policies which turned out to be pretty risky.
• UMB Financial, Kansas City, is the next bank that has withstood the economic storm and emerged a survivor. Its customer-endearing regional policies, conservative and fundamental policies of governance and customer satisfaction have helped it survive in the economically rough weather conditions.
• Commerce Bancshares was another bank that survived the economic crisis with a commendable performance and good assets. Commerce Bancshares has about 114% of its money in non-performing loans.
• Prosperity Bancshares comes next with good Non performance loaning and not accepting the Federal government’s TARP, just like the UMB.
• SVB Financial is the next best company of the year. Though it had joined the TARP scheme, its long term associations with venture capitalists proved beneficial for it. The key to its success was its focus on financing its clients. It has helped in a lot of tech groups establish themselves and grow, instead of trying to expand itself aimlessly just for the sake of expanding.

Most banks that survived the economic crisis were the ones that had stuck to conservative policies, modest method. Old is gold, as always, and their strategy and coping mechanism has left them fairly immune to the economic crisis than new age banks. This may be probable because the conservative policies are tested over adversity over time and hence have been able to stand the test. The new age banks, on the other hand, are totally dependent only on the economic environment of the recent times. They are not equipped with foolproof methods to cope with any economic crisis. This was the first financial crisis they ever witnessed and that’s why they could not withstand them.

Flagstar Bancorp with a series of bank failures, with low net interest margins and situated in Michigan, which is considered an economic wasteland, tops the Forbes list of the worst banks of America for this year. R & G Financial, Sterling Financial, Capitol Bancorp, Banco Popular are all banks that are amongst the top worst banks of this year. Central Pacific Financial is the worst bank of the year. Situated with Bank of Hawaii, the Forbes list topper in Honolulu you might be surprised at the contrast, but so is it.