Miami Beach's City National Bank has received a 5 Star rating with it's over $1 billion in assets from Bauer Financial and Bankrate.com and was given an A+ rating from Street.com in it's 3rd Quarter for 2008 according to MSN Money Central and PR Newswire.
According to a recent article by The Miami Herald - Nine Banks in Miami-Dade & Broward Counties Earn Top Ratings. Among them are Coral Gables based First Bank, Coconut Grove Bank (Miami), Flagler Bank (Davie) and Floridian Community Bank (Ft. Lauderdale).
What gives banks an A+ or 5 Star rating? How important should the rating of your bank be to you? Should you care?
Banks are financial intermediaries - a depository institution which accepts deposits from the public and then lends those deposits to borrowers. The profits that come from a bank are from lending out these funds. The banks charge an interest on those loans, and from charging for services such as ATM fees, and check-printing charges.
Banks are not for just depositing money, having a checking account and writing checks. The bank's must have $5 million in real estate banking value and have by law in required reserves $2 million in the vault and $8 million in accounts with the Federal Reserve.
Banks earn their revenue by lending out their deposits. For example, a bank which has too many bankruptcies or home foreclosures - its total assets are less than its total liabilities - is when banks become insolvent, weak, and get a poor rating, even close.
Bank ratings are as follows:
A - Excellent 5 Stars - Superior B - Good 4 Stars - SoundC - Fair 3 Stars - PerformingD - Weak 2 Stars - Below Peer GroupE - Very Weak 1 Star - Lowest Rated
Top rated bank's success spared sub-prime loans. Did your bank suffer from the sub-prime crisis that our nation is facing today? Is your bank a top or weak rated bank?
Find out if your bank, thrift, or credit union is safe. How safe is your bank?
Bank failure: What to do next? By: Laura Bruce - Bankrate.com
Most importantly, even if you do not want to change your bank to a higher rated bank, make sure that your bank is FDIC insured.
