S&P Global Market Intelligence report ranks GRB no. 23 nationwide for banks with up to $3 billion is assets
GRB is proud to be recognized by S&P Global Market Intelligence as one of the “Best-performing Community Banks for 2020” for banks up to $3 billion in assets. Ranked at no. 23, GRB is the only New York state community bank on the nationwide list.
To determine the ranking, S&P calculated scores for more than 4,000 financial institutions on six weighted metrics: pre-tax return on tangible common equity, efficiency ratio, net interest margin, operating revenue growth, leverage ratio and nonperforming assets and loans 90 days past due as a percentage of total assets, and the net of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. GRB performed well in all categories, delivering an efficiency ratio of 46.03%, keeping non-performing assets to 0.30% as a percent of total assets, and delivering a return on tangible common equity of 25.83%.
Meeting 2020’s challenges
“In a year filled with so much uncertainty, we are proud that GRB was able to maintain its stability, make significant gains in efficiency, and serve the local community as one of the region’s leading SBA PPP loan providers,” said GRB President and CEO Philip L. Pecora. “Our previous years’ investments in technology and ability to develop a committed, high-performing workforce allowed us to respond quickly to the PPP program and simultaneously move forward with other lending activities, deposit growth, and support a record-breaking year for our residential mortgage team.”
“Despite going through a challenging year filled with economic uncertainty, we have seen community banks and credit unions play a significant role in their regional markets, providing support and essential services needed in their local communities. I’m thrilled to see these community banks and credit unions thrive in a challenging time and proud to recognize these top performing local financial institutions in our annual rankings,” said Jimmy Pittenger, Senior Director of Financial Institutions at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Relationships made the difference
Pecora points out that it was the bank’s strong relationships with its customers that provided the foundation for fully leveraging its technology infrastructure and shifting to a remote work environment for more than 70% of the bank’s employees.
“We take pride in being the kind of banking partner that knows its customers intimately and proactively works with them to face challenges and take advantage of new opportunities,” said Pecora. “In an environment like 2020, those relationships were critical. Even though things were changing for us and for our customers on a daily basis, they knew we were focused on doing the right thing for them, for our employees and for this community.”
Focusing on recovery
In addition to processing PPP loans for 575 small businesses, 2020 also brought GRB a number of other achievements: earning Emerald Award status from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and being the top SBA lender in the Rochester region, being named to the “Rochester Chamber Top 100” list of fastest-growing privately owned companies, and being recognized as one of the “Best Companies to Work for in New York” by the Society for Human Resource Management. The bank was also a leading purchase mortgage bank lender in the region and was recently named a top residential mortgage refinance provider by Expertise.com.
“We were well-positioned in 2020 to fulfill the rapidly changing needs of our customers and still provide opportunities for our employees and shareholders,” said Pecora. “We know that strength will be needed in 2021 as we continue to support the recovery efforts of the small businesses and community members in the Rochester region.”