Forbes has released its 15th annual list of “America’s Best Banks,” with numerous companies headquartered in Texas making the cut. Of the 100 banks on the list, eight are based in the Lone Star State. Here are the Texas-based 2024 “America’s Best Banks” (the numbers indicate the bank’s ranking on Forbes’ list of U.S. banks:
- No. 3: International Bancshares, Laredo
- No. 12: South Plains Financial, Lubbock
- No. 21: First Financial Bankshares, Abilene
- No. 23: Cullen/Frost Bankers, San Antonio
- No. 37: Southside Bancshares, Tyler
- No. 55: Prosperity Bancshares, Houston
- No. 73: Stellar Bancorp Inc., Houston
- No. 74: Comerica, Dallas
The top 200 largest publicly traded banks and thrifts by asset size were eligible for the list; however, only the top one hundred were ranked after Forbes analyzed 10 equally weighted financial metrics that measure the following factors: net interest margin; return on average tangible common equity; return on average assets; CET1 ratio; efficiency ratio; nonperforming assets as a percentage of total assets; reserves as a percentage of total assets; risk-based capital ratio; operating revenue growth; and net charge-offs as a percentage of total loans. Forbes also examined stock performance in the 12 months through March 18, 2024. As with all Forbes lists, companies do not pay to participate.
“The failures of Silicon Valley Bank and peers like First Republic Bank made 2023 the most tumultuous year for the banking industry since the 2008 crisis, but for some small community banks, the chaos hardly registered,” Forbes notes in its analysis of the data.
Despite the rough ride in 2023, according to the publication, the current climate is not as dire as expected. “According to the FDIC, five banks failed in 2023 following back-to-back years of zero failures, and the $532 billion in failed assets were the most ever recorded in a single year,” Forbes notes. “Given that there weren’t endemic asset quality problems, the industry appears to have emerged with a fairly clean bill of health. About 95 percent of FDIC-insured banks are profitable, and the industry’s $256.9 billion in net income in 2023 was down a mere 2.3 percent from the previous year.”
“Our ranking third on the Forbes’ ‘America’s Best Banks’ list is a wonderful honor and one that makes me incredibly proud of our IBC team,” says Dennis E. Nixon, IBC’s president and CEO. “Every team member—from the employees working at a branch to the employees working on our corporate team—has a hand in this recognition. Our board of directors and executive management team set the vision for our company, but it is up to all team members to execute that vision in a consistent manner. We remain focused on continuing to execute on long-standing practices of balance sheet, asset liability and liquidity management, as well as cost controls.”
Laredo-based IBC operates 165 facilities serving 75 communities in Texas and Oklahoma.
Click here to see the full list of Forbes’ 2024 “America’s Best Banks.”
