Brilliant Banking

Brilliant Banking

By Sean Roth

Real Estate Editor

As in any industry there are the elite - and everybody else. Along Florida's Gulf Coast, banks are no different. Of the 61 banks based from Hillsborough County to Collier County, four banks stand far above the rest.

To find these high achievers, the Review ranked all 65 banks based on the latest available year-to-date period (June 30, 2005) and selected the top 20 in eight positive criteria: return on equity, total assets, total interest income, pre-tax net operating income, net interest margin, return on assets, efficiency ratio and assets per employee; and two negative criteria: noncurrent loans to loans and loss allowance to loans (see charts on 2B-5B). The top 20 from each list were then scored, creating a ranking of the best of the best.

The top bank is not a surprise to followers of the Gulf Coast banking industry, Orion Bank, which is headed by the Review's Banker of the Year two years ago, Jerry Williams. The other two standouts are Fort Myers-based First Community Bank of Southwest Florida, a 1999 startup, and Immokalee-based Florida Community Bank, started by Barron Collier in 1923 and operated by the William Price family since 1963.

Orion Bank led the way with three number one rankings in assets, interest income and pre-tax net operating income. The Naples bank also followed with top-10 places in return on equity, interest margin and assets per employee.

Florida Community Bank of Southwest Florida followed Orion by a three points in our scoring system. It had one second-place ranking in net interest margin, third place in ROE and a fourth in ROA.

Third, with five fewer points, Florida Community Bank had two second-place rankings in pre-tax net operating income and interest income; two third-place rankings in total assets and ROA. Stephen Price's bank also had top-five rankings in ROE and interest margin.

Then it's a big drop, 15 points down to reach the rest of the banks starting with O'Neill' s Century Bank, a Federal Savings Bank. Far from a slouch itself, Century Bank received fifth or better rankings in four categories (ROE, total assets, interest and pre-tax net operating income) and a 10th-place ranking in return on assets.

One of the only surprises among the top performers was that none of the top 10 and only two of the top 20 banks placed in the top 20 banks based on their efficiency ratios.

Gulf Coast Elite

These 10 banks ranked the highest in 10 measurement categories among 65 Gulf Coast, Florida banks when comparing year-to-date data for 2004 and 2005 as recorded by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Bank Score

1. Orion Bank, Naples 99

2. First Community Bank of Southwest Florida, Fort Myers 96

3. Florida Community Bank, Immokalee 91

4. Century Bank, Sarasota 76

5. Raymond James Bank, FSB, St. Petersburg 75

6. First Florida Bank, Naples 66

7. Community Bank of Naples, NA 63

8. Community National Bank of Sarasota County, Venice* 58

9. The Bank of Tampa 54

10. Charlotte State Bank*, Port Charlotte 43

* S corporations