S&P Global Market Intelligence released its annual rankings for 2018’s best-performing community banks with assets between $3 billion and $10 billion, community banks with assets less than $3 billion, and top-performing credit unions.

For the second consecutive year, Michigan’s Sterling Bancorp Inc. was named best-performing large U.S. community bank in 2018, bolstered by strong earnings and cost controls. Park State Bank, a 100-year-old lender in Minnesota, topped the 100 U.S. community banks under $3 billion in assets list, recording a return on average tangible common equity of 26.31% while maintaining a 55.25% efficiency ratio. Government worker-focused United States Senate Federal Credit Union posted the strongest market growth rate in the 2018 ranking, at 26.3%, catapulting it from No. 44 in 2017 to the top spot in the 2018 ranking of the 50 top-performing U.S. credit unions.

S&P Global Market Intelligence will recognize the top performers in person at the 8th annual Community Bankers Conference on April 8-10 at the Four Seasons Resort and Club, Dallas at Las Colinas in Irving, TX.

The conference features community bankers and advisors from across the country sharing operational and financial strategies they've found useful in driving profitability.

J.P. O’Sullivan, Managing Director of Financial Institutions at S&P Global Market Intelligence said, “Year-after-year, we see the increasingly significant role that community banks and credit unions play in their local communities. From metropolitan cities to the rural towns across the US, access to credit through local banks and credit unions is a key driver for local economic growth. The results of these rankings demonstrate that many small institutions can thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape. S&P Global Market Intelligence is extremely pleased to recognize all of the top performing community banks and credit unions.”