Bank Director's ranking of the best users of capital in banking.

1. Bank Director’s Nifty 50
The top 50 best users of capital

2. Bank Director’s Nifty 50
Bank Director magazine went hunting for banks
that deliver high returns, despite high levels of
capital.
In an age when regulators are demanding higher
capital, which tends to produce lower earnings,
this can be extremely hard to do.

3. Bank Director’s Nifty 50
Investment firm Sandler O’Neill + Partners
compiled this list from the 484 banks and thrifts
listed on the NYSE, NYSE Amex and NASDAQ
OMX stock exchanges, using core return on
tangible common equity and the ratio of
average tangible common equity to tangible
assets.

4. Steve Trager, CEO
Republic Bancorp, Inc.
The winner of the Nifty 50 was Republic Bancorp Inc., a Louisville, Kentucky-
based bank holding company with $3 billion in assets.
Republic Bancorp looks for non-traditional product opportunities where returns are higher. It is the largest
processor of income tax returns in the country. The FDIC forced it to scale back the product after 2012–citing
riskiness.

5. Scott Dueser, chairman and
CEO of First Financial
First Financial Bankshares Inc., based in Abilene, Texas, was the second
ranked best user of capital.
“Our board’s approach has always been to maintain high levels of capital because capital is what got us through
the hard times,’’ says F. Scott Dueser, chairman and CEO of the $3.8-billion asset holding company.

6. Bank Director’s Nifty 50
Like Republic, First Financial invests
most of its earnings back into the
company, rather than paying high
dividends.

7. Bank Director’s Nifty 50
National Bankshares Inc. in Blacksburg, Virginia,
was the third best user of capital.
Commercial National Financial Corp. in Latrobe,
Pennsylvania, was no. 4 on the ranking.

8. Joe Evans, chairman & CEO of
State Bank Financial Corp.
State Bank Financial Corp. in Atlanta was the 5th best user of capital.
Joe Evans and his team sold Atlanta-based Flag Financial Corp. in 2006 and were in a position to buy another
bank in 2009 in an FDIC-assisted transaction. State Bank was born. It soon acquired five other failed banks.

9. Comparison of Top 5 Banks
25
20
15
10
5
0
Republic First Financial National Commercial State Bank
Bancorp Bankshares National Financial
Financial
Core ROTCE Average TCE/TA
* Core ROTCE is return on tangible common equity and based on core income as defined by SNL Financial and average TCE
for eight quarters ending June 30, 2011. Average TCE/TA is tangible common equity to tangible assets and represents the
average for eight quarters ending June 30, 2011.
Source: SNL Financial and Sandler O'Neill + Partners

10. Bank Director’s Nifty 50
Mark Fitzgibbon, director
of research at Sandler
O’Neill + Partners, says
most of the top ranked
banks are located in
smaller, urban markets
where business conditions
are probably better.

11. Bank Director’s Nifty 50
Another similarity is low
expense ratios, attractive net
interest margins–a reflection
probably of pricing
advantages compared to
banks in more competitive
markets–and low credit
costs, which suggests the top Mark Fitzgibbon, director of research at
Sandler O’Neill + Partners
ranked banks and thrifts are
better lenders.

12. Bank Director’s Nifty 50
Check out the full
Nifty 50 ranking
here, where it
appeared in Bank
Director magazine’s
1st quarter issue.