SANTA CRUZ, Calif., March 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Santa Cruz County Bank www.sccountybank.com (OTCQX:SCZC), with assets over $1.7 billion, is a top-rated community bank headquartered in Santa Cruz County. Today the Bank announced it has earned the #6 ranking on the S&P Global Market Intelligence annual rankings of 2022's best performing community banks in the nation with assets under $3 billion.

Eight California banks earned a spot on the Top 100 best performing community banks list. Rankings are based on financials for the year ended December 31, 2022. This is the sixth year Santa Cruz County Bank has ranked in the Top 100 Community Banks in the United States. The Bank also has a Bauer Financial Superior Rating (5 out of 5 stars), IDC Superior Rating, and is a Super Premier Performing Bank with the Findley Reports.

Krista Snelling, President and CEO remarked, "Our rank of 6th in the nation, among 3,782 community banks under $3 billion, is a testament to the hard work, vision and focus of our entire team. Ranking 2nd among the eight Californiabanks places us firmly in the top tier within the state. Our industry rankings and financial strength provide confidence and security to our shareholders, clients and community. "

S&P Global Market Ratings Criteria
To compile these rankings, S&P Global Market Intelligence calculated scores for each company based on seven metrics: pretax return on tangible common equity, efficiency ratio, cost of funds, five-year average operating revenue growth, five-year average net charge-offs to average loans and leases ratio, nonperforming assets and loans 90 days or more past due as a percentage of total assets and leverage ratio. Each company's standard deviation from the industry mean was calculated for every metric, weighted, then combined to derive a performance score. To help normalize the data and mitigate the impact of outliers, caps and floors were applied for each metric.

Criteria for the ranking included a gross loans and leases-to-total assets ratio of at least 33% with no more than half of those loans in credit cards; a leverage ratio of at least 5%; no active severe enforcement actions; a result other than "substantial noncompliance" or "needs to improve" in the bank's most recent Community Reinvestment Act exam; a yield on loans and leases of no more than 3x the industry median of 4.88%; and no more than half of the entity's revenue coming from nontraditional banking activities. Additionally, industrial banks, non-depository trusts, companies with a bankers' bank certification, and banks with parent companies that have total assets of $10 billion or more were omitted.

Based on the above criteria, 3,782 banks and thrifts were eligible for this analysis.