Thursday, February 12 2009
We have good news today on the economic front in Evansville. Old National Bank has been ranked 28th amongst a list of 150 best performers. In 2007 Old National Bank was ranked 114th. Old National was not the only Tri-State bank on the list. Integra Bancorp came in at 99th and Fifth Third Bank came in at 114th.
We can also report that Mead Johnson had a successful initial public offering. Mead Johnson was able to raise $ 720 million which was higher than anticipated.
We congratulate our local banks as well as Mead Johnson for their achievements.
You can read the story on Mead Johnson at the Courier & Press: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/feb/11/10web-MeadJohnson/?ebj=1/
Local banks make list of 150 best performers
The local institution to attain the highest ranking was Old National Bancorp, which has it’s headquarter in Evansville. It came in at number 28 on the “Bank Performance Scorecard” assembled by Sandler O’Neill & Partners, an investment firm in New York City.
Integra Bancorp, also based in Evansville, was 99th on the list and Fifth Third Bank, which has an affiliate office in town, was 114th.
Sandler O’Neill noted that few huge banks appeared at the top of the 2008 list. Of those in the top 10, seven had assets between $3 billion and $11 billion.
“There is not much flash and glitz among this year’s crop of top-performing banks and thrifts,” the firm wrote. “But given all that’s occurred in the last six months, maybe slow and steady really is the name of the game.”
Last year saw Old National, with about $7.6 billion in assets, make a large leap upward. In 2007, it had appeared at number 106.
“In part, this goes back to fundamentals and who is going to win the race,” said Bob Jones, Old National president and chief executive officer. “Is it going to be the tortoise or the hare?”
In choosing the banks, Sandler & O’Neill looked at a number of measures, including profits and the quality of assets. For 2008, Old National Bank reported a profit of about $62.5 million. That was down about $12.4 million from the year before but was still not as large as the losses seen at many other banks.
Fifth Third, for instance, reported a loss of $2.2 billion for 2008. The year before, it had a profit of about $1.1 billion.
Integra Bank has not reported its fourth-quarter earnings yet. For the first nine months of 2008, it had a loss of $29.3 million.
Mike Vea, Integra president, chairman and CEO, attributed the loss to troubles inherited from Prairie Financial Corp., a Chicago bank Integra bought in 2007. Integra’s business in its other markets remains strong, a fact recognized in the bank’s place on the list, Vea said.
“Being in the top 100 shows that it is a good name,” he said. “It implies the strength of the institution and of the markets we are in.”
At the top of Sandler O’Neill’s list was Glacier Bank, which is based in Montana and has assets of about $5 billion.
Meanwhile, some of the best-known names in banking came in fairly low. Citigroup, which has $2.1 trillion in assets, was at number 132. Wachovia, with $812 billion in assets, was ranked 147th.
Source: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/feb/11/11web-Banks/?ebj=1/ Comments:
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