The American Bankers Association’s flagship magazine released its top performance rankings for 2009 in its May issue, and Springfield-based Great Southern Bancorp Inc. was ranked No. 4.
The ABA Banking Journal ranking of public banks and thrifts with assets of more than $3 billion is based on return on average total equity, which is net income divided by a bank’s average equity for the year. Great Southern’s 2009 ROAE was 23.68; the average ROAE for the nearly 200 banks evaluated for the ranking was -5.74.
Great Southern also outpaced several much-larger institutions: San Francisco-based Wells Fargo ranked No. 18 (10.75 ROAE); Tulsa-based BOK Financial Corp. ranked No. 21 (9.82 ROAE); and Minneapolis, Minn.-based U.S. Bancorp, which held the No. 4 position in 2008, fell to No. 33 in 2009 (8.28 ROAE).
Two FDIC-assisted acquisitions helped move Great Southern from an unranked position to its place among the top five, said president and CEO Joe Turner. The bank had total assets of $3.6 billion in 2009.
The ABA Banking Journal estimates the September acquisition of Iowa-based Vantus Bank and March 2009 purchase of Kansas-based TeamBank NA increased Great Southern’s asset size by roughly 37 percent.
“We did have some income attributed to those acquisitions. Also, they just changed the breadth and scope of our company,” Turner said. “We entered the year with 39 banking centers in Missouri. At the end of the year, we had 72 banking centers (in multiple states).”
Three other Missouri-based banks made the ranking: Kansas City-based Commerce Bancshares Inc. was No. 23, Jefferson City-based Central Bancompany Inc. was No. 26, and Kansas City-based UMB Financial Corp. was No. 27.[[In-content Ad]]
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