Three banks earn national kudos

Three banks on the west coast of Florida were named to S&P Global Market Intelligence's 2016 ranking of the 100 best-performing community banks with under $1 billion in assets.

The banks are Seminole-based First Home Bank, ranked No. 5; Sanibel Captiva Community Bank, ranked No. 19; and St. Petersburg-based Freedom Bank, ranked No. 76.

S&P Global Market Intelligence used six metrics to calculate the ranking: pretax return on average tangible common equity; net charge-offs as a percentage of average loans; efficiency ratio; adjusted Texas ratio; net interest margin; and loan growth. Eligibility required a loan-to-asset ratio of at least 33%, with no more than half of those loans from credit cards, according to a statement. Companies also had to be well-capitalized according to current regulatory standards, and no more than half the institution's revenue could come from nontraditional banking activities.