The stars continue to shine for City National Bank of Florida (CNB).
The community bank, founded in Miami Beach in 1945, recently earned its second consecutive 5-star “superior” rating from Coral Gables-based bank ratings firm BauerFinancial. This is the highest rating Bauer bestows upon banks, and the rating keeps City National Bank on the “Recommended Institutions” list.
CNB is one of only seven banks in Florida with over $1 billion in assets to receive the highest rating. And only two banks with assets over $4 billion, including CNB, earned five stars. “Strength and stability have always been trademarks of City National Bank since we first opened on Miami Beach. Maintaining our Superior rating continues to illustrate that,” President and Chief Executive Officer Jorge Gonzalez said.
BauerFinancial has been rating the nation’s banks since 1983.
The ratings firm utilizes a complex formula that factors in current and historical data to determine the strength of each bank. The rating was based on CNB’s second quarter performance. The bank reported net income of $10.3 million and core earnings of $14.2 million, continuing a strong record of profitability and growth. Earnings reached $19.8 million while core earnings increased to $27.4 million for the first six months of 2012.
CNB continued to increase its lending as loan commitments for the second quarter increased to $233 million from $221 million in the first quarter of 2012, bringing total loan commitments to $454 million.
And the bank will keep lending. At current capital levels, City National Bank can support more than $1.5 billion of loan growth.
“We are one of the best capitalized institutions in the state and we will continue to use that strength to power our growth for the remainder of 2012, especially in our commercial, real estate and mortgage lending,” Gonzalez said.
The 5-star rating continues a banner year for CNB, the fifth-largest financial institution in the state. Earlier this year, the bank was highlighted for having no service complaints in a statewide study. CNB was also named the South Florida Business Journal’s Community Bank of the Year in 2011. The bank has 26 banking centers from Miami-Dade County to the greater Orlando area.
