Bank Director’s Annual RankingBanking Study Identifies Regional Winners

NASHVILLE, TN, December 18, 2018 — Columbia, South Carolina-based South State Corp. topped Bank Director’s 2019 RankingBanking study, which identified the top five public U.S. retail and commercial banks between $10 billion and $250 billion in assets within each region: the South, the West, the Midwest and the Northeast.

The Regional All-Stars identified by Bank Director represent some of the best in banking.

South State Corp. won the overall ranking due to its strong overall performance in retail banking and its ability to attract millennial employees who will help grow the business in the future. It was a regional winner as well in the corporate citizen, branch network, core deposit and commercial lending categories, and it scored second in the South for its acquisition and technology strategies. In fact, the South State scored first or second within its region in eight of the 10 categories in the study.

Waterbury, Connecticut-based Webster Financial Corp. rated best overall in the Northeast, Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington Bancshares was named best in the Midwest and First Republic Bank, in San Francisco, was best in the West.

Bank Director’s annual RankingBanking study is a multi-layered project that examines areas that are important to the banking sector. The deep-dive analysis includes more than 60 data points to uncover the strengths of these banks and determine the best bank in each region—and the best overall—across ten key categories in banking.

Best Branch Network Strategy
Category Winner: First Republic Bank (West)
Northeast: Sterling Bancorp
Midwest (TIE): Huntington Bancshares and Commerce Bancshares
South: South State Corp.

Best Core Deposit Strategy
Category Winner: Community Bank System (Northeast)
Midwest: Commerce Bancshares
South (TIE): Bank OZK and South State Corp.
West: Western Alliance Bancorp.

Best Retail Strategy
Category Winner: South State Corp. (South)
Northeast: M&T Bank Corp.
Midwest: Commerce Bancshares
West: First Republic Bank

Best Technology Strategy
Category Winner: Fifth Third Bancorp (Midwest)
Northeast: Webster Financial Corp.
South: Bank OZK
West: Bank of Hawaii Corp.

Best Small Business Strategy
Category Winner: Huntington Bancshares (Midwest)
Northeast: Webster Financial Corp.
South: Home Bancshares
West: East West Bancorp

Best Commercial Lending Strategy
Category Winner: Huntington Bancshares (Midwest)
Northeast: Sterling Bancorp
South: South State Corp.
West: Western Alliance Bancorp.

Best Corporate Citizen
Category Winner: M&T Bank Corp. (Northeast)
Midwest: Fifth Third Bancorp
South: South State Corp.
West: Bank of Hawaii Corp.

Best Bank for Millennial Employees
Category Winner: South State Corp. (South)
Northeast: M&T Bank Corp.
Midwest: Fifth Third Bancorp
West: First Republic Bank

Best M&A Strategy
Category Winner (TIE): M&T Bank Corp. (Northeast) and Western Alliance Bancorp. (West)
Midwest: Great Western Bancorp
South: Bank OZK

Best Board
Category Winner: Bank of Hawaii Corp. (West)
Best Northeast: Webster Financial Corp.
Best Midwest: Huntington Bancshares
Best South: Bank OZK

The full results of Bank Director’s 2019 RankingBanking study are available on RankingBanking.com.

ABOUT BANK DIRECTOR
Since 1991, Bank Director has served as a leading information resource for the directors and officers of financial institutions across the nation. Through Bank Director magazine, its executive-level research, annual conferences and website, BankDirector.com, Bank Director reaches the leaders of the institutions that define America’s banking industry. Its FinXTech division connects U.S. bank leaders with technology partners at the forefront of innovation. Both are headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Source: BankDirector.com, RankingBanking.com

Contact: Michelle King, chief marketing officer, (615) 777-8465, [email protected]