Bank Trade Journal Ranks Huntington Top Performer
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Bank Director Magazine, a quarterly trade journal, named Huntington National Bank the best performing bank in the nation in its annual bank performance scorecard issue.
Based on assets, the magazine divided 289 banks into three categories. Huntington, which ranked second last year in the category of $50 billion and more in assets, came in first this year.
Bank Director measures performance based on the banks’ profitability, asset quality and capitalization. Editor Jack Milligan wrote that Huntington “saw a significant improvement in asset quality last year and the resulting credit leverage also boosted it 2012 earnings. …
“If there’s a poster child for the rebound that many large, publicly traded banks have enjoyed since the Great Recession and global financial crisis that precipitated it, that company could well be Huntington Bancshares Inc.,” Milligan wrote. “In 2009, the Columbus, Ohio-based regional bank was writing off hundreds of millions of dollars in bad loans, laying off employees and feverishly raising capital to stay afloat. Three and a half years later, those tough decisions have paid off handsomely.”
The magazine recognized the ability of Huntington to create a niche in super prime indirect auto lending and its “Fair Play” banking initiative that includes free checking and a day’s grace for consumers to cover overdrawn checking accounts.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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