The following article originally appeared on June 21, 2022, on Forbes.com.
Small banks are where the rubber meets the road in the U.S. economy. They embody the purest examples of fundamental savings and lending functions that form the bedrock of financial services. These smaller institutions provide tens of millions of Americans a primary point of contact in the world of finance when they want to buy a home, get a car loan, invest for retirement or earn interest on savings. On the commercial side, loans for working capital and business expansion constitute the financial lifeblood for hundreds of thousands of small business owners who turn to local bankers for business funding.
As the nation emerged from the pandemic, smaller banks benefitted from major economic tailwinds as home sales and mortgage originations soared, business lending boomed and auto loans were off to the races. Those tailwinds are now headwinds as the Federal Reserve does its best to fight inflation by cooling the economy through a series of steep interest rate hikes that threaten to slow business and boost the cost of funds for banks. Nonetheless, business never screeches to a complete halt, and the banks that keep clients during tough times reap the rewards in the inevitable recovery. Some banks are better than others.
To identify the best banks in each state, Forbes went directly to their clients, partnering with market research firm Statista to conduct in-depth interviews of more than 26,000 U.S. citizens from all 50 states on their banking relationships.
For every bank at which they had a checking account, account holders provided an overall satisfaction score and were asked if they would recommend that bank to friends and family. Respondents also answered a detailed battery of questions focused on six separate facets of the relationship: Trust, terms & conditions (including reasonable and transparent fees), branch services, digital services, customer service and financial advice. Based on a 1-100 scale, scores ranged from 74.2 to 93.6, and just 2.7% of all banks nationwide made the cut for the best-in-state rankings.
Excluded from the survey were institutions that have branches in more than 14 states, barring from consideration big national banks like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase Bank, PNC Financial, U.S. Bank, Truist Financial, and Wells Fargo.
Click here to see the full list of America’s Best Banks in Each State.
Congratulations to the following EPCOR member banks for making the list:
Indiana:
- Rank 1: First Financial Bank
- Rank 2: The Huntington National Bank
- Rank 3: 1st Source Bank
- Rank 4: First Merchants Bank
Arkansas:
- Rank 1: Citizens Bank & Trust
- Rank 3: First Security Bank
- Rank 4: First Financial Bank
- Rank 5: Centennial Bank
Colorado:
- Rank 3: First National Bank of Omaha
Georgia:
Iowa:
- Rank 1: Bankers Trust
- Rank 2: Great Southern Bank
Kansas:
- Rank 1: Emprise Bank
- Rank 2: CoreFirst Bank & Trust
- Rank 3: Commerce Bank
Kentucky:
- Rank 3: Central Bank & Trust
Michigan:
- Rank 2: The Huntington National Bank
Minnesota:
- Rank 3: Old National Bank
Missouri:
- Rank 1: Southern Bank
- Rank 3: First State Community Bank
- Rank 4: Central Bank & Trust
- Rank 5: Great Southern Bank
Nebraska:
- Rank 1: Union Bank & Trust
- Rank 2: Cornhusker Bank
- Rank 4: Cornerstone Bank
- Rank 5: First National Bank of Omaha
Ohio:
- Rank 2: The Huntington National Bank
Oklahoma:
- Rank 1: BancFirst
- Rank 2: Bank of Oklahoma (BOK Financial)
- Rank 3: Armstrong Bank
- Rank 4: City National Bank & Trust
- Rank 5: First Fidelity Bank
Pennsylvania:
- Rank 1: Dollar Bank
- Rank 4: The Huntington National Bank
Texas:
- Rank 5: First United Bank
Wyoming:
Source: Forbes |
