Short version: The top of the NIM table is not where most analysts expect. It is dominated by Utah industrial banks, credit-card-focused subsidiaries, and a handful of fintech-sponsor banks. Of 1,796 US commercial banks with at least $500M in assets that reported a clean NIM number for Q2 2026, the 50th-highest came in at 5.18%. The median was 3.53%. The number-one spot still belongs to WebBank in Salt Lake City, at 14.27%.
What you are looking at
Net interest margin (NIM) is net interest income divided by average earning assets. It is the cleanest single read on how much money a bank makes from the spread business: borrow at one rate, lend at a higher rate, keep the difference. A typical US commercial bank with at least $500M in assets ran a NIM between roughly 3.1% and 4.0% in Q2 2026, with a 3.53% median. Anything above 5% is unusual. Anything above 8% means the bank is doing something most banks are not.
The ranking below is built from raw FFIEC call report data filed for the period ending June 30, 2026. We filtered out banks under $500M in assets to keep the list focused on institutions a wholesale lender, depositor, or borrower would plausibly run into. We also dropped a small number of outliers above 15% NIM, which are almost always brand-new charters, runoff entities, or banks that took a one-time gain that distorted the ratio.
If you want to dig further on a specific bank, every entry below links to its full peer-percentile scorecard on the BankingLens dashboard.
The 50 banks, ranked
Click a column header to sort. NIM is the headline number. ROA tells you how much of that margin actually became profit after expenses and loss provisions.
| # | Bank | HQ | Asset band | NIM | ROA | Assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Webbank | Salt Lake City, UT | $1B-$3B | 14.27% | 4.52% | $2.9B |
| 2 | Synchrony Bank | Draper, UT | >$100B | 12.27% | 2.85% | $115.2B |
| 3 | Finwise Bank | Murray, UT | $300M-$1B | 12.08% | 1.39% | $915M |
| 4 | Barclays Bank Delaware | Wilmington, DE | $10B-$100B | 10.58% | 2.42% | $43.5B |
| 5 | Wex Bank | Sandy, UT | $10B-$100B | 9.98% | 4.29% | $10.7B |
| 6 | Beal Bank USA | Las Vegas, NV | $10B-$100B | 8.43% | 8.25% | $11.0B |
| 7 | American Express National Bank | Sandy, UT | >$100B | 8.36% | 3.72% | $213.9B |
| 8 | Medallion Bank | Salt Lake City, UT | $1B-$3B | 8.26% | 2.13% | $2.8B |
| 9 | 1st Financial Bank USA | Dakota Dunes, SD | $1B-$3B | 7.92% | 0.97% | $1.4B |
| 10 | First Savings Bank | Beresford, SD | $1B-$3B | 7.86% | 2.62% | $1.6B |
| 11 | Column National Association | Chico, CA | $1B-$3B | 7.60% | 8.30% | $1.8B |
| 12 | Pitney Bowes Bank Inc., The | Salt Lake City, UT | $300M-$1B | 7.59% | 5.41% | $796M |
| 13 | Capital One, National Association | Mc Lean, VA | >$100B | 7.49% | 1.68% | $662.2B |
| 14 | Ixonia Bank | Ixonia, WI | $1B-$3B | 7.03% | 1.18% | $1.1B |
| 15 | First National Bank | Fort Pierre, SD | $1B-$3B | 6.90% | 2.50% | $2.0B |
| 16 | Scale Bank | Edina, MN | $300M-$1B | 6.83% | 2.29% | $627M |
| 17 | Coastal Community Bank | Everett, WA | $3B-$10B | 6.81% | -1.14% | $5.5B |
| 18 | Lead Bank | Kansas City, MO | $1B-$3B | 6.73% | 1.59% | $2.8B |
| 19 | Gulf Coast Bank And Trust Company | New Orleans, LA | $3B-$10B | 6.62% | 1.10% | $3.9B |
| 20 | Bank Of Lake Mills | Lake Mills, WI | $300M-$1B | 6.61% | 2.33% | $534M |
| 21 | Pathward, National Association | Sioux Falls, SD | $3B-$10B | 6.43% | 2.77% | $7.3B |
| 22 | Sunmark Community Bank | Perry, GA | $300M-$1B | 6.41% | 2.89% | $557M |
| 23 | Eaglemark Savings Bank | Reno, NV | $300M-$1B | 6.35% | 4.48% | $756M |
| 24 | Transportation Alliance Bank, Inc. Dba Tab Bank | Ogden, UT | $1B-$3B | 6.21% | 1.04% | $1.6B |
| 25 | Community First Bank Of Indiana | Kokomo, IN | $300M-$1B | 6.12% | 1.14% | $980M |
| 26 | Peoples Bank | Mendenhall, MS | $300M-$1B | 6.03% | 3.98% | $503M |
| 27 | Td Bank USA, National Association | Wilmington, DE | $10B-$100B | 6.02% | 0.41% | $32.1B |
| 28 | John Deere Financial, F.S.B. | Middleton, WI | $3B-$10B | 6.02% | 3.10% | $4.9B |
| 29 | First Credit Bank | West Hollywood, CA | $300M-$1B | 6.02% | 4.36% | $516M |
| 30 | First National Bank Of Omaha | Omaha, NE | $10B-$100B | 6.00% | 1.79% | $34.2B |
| 31 | Happen Bank, National Association | Lehi, UT | $10B-$100B | 5.93% | 1.82% | $12.5B |
| 32 | Celtic Bank Corporation | Salt Lake City, UT | $3B-$10B | 5.76% | 3.39% | $5.3B |
| 33 | Esquire Bank, National Association | Jericho, NY | $1B-$3B | 5.76% | 2.33% | $2.5B |
| 34 | Sofi Bank, National Association | Cottonwood Heights, UT | $10B-$100B | 5.69% | 1.95% | $56.8B |
| 35 | Anderson Brothers Bank | Mullins, SC | $1B-$3B | 5.67% | 1.51% | $2.4B |
| 36 | Stearns Bank National Association | Saint Cloud, MN | $3B-$10B | 5.66% | 2.09% | $3.3B |
| 37 | Maverick Bank | Fort Davis, TX | $300M-$1B | 5.53% | 2.61% | $809M |
| 38 | Tbk Bank, Ssb | Dallas, TX | $3B-$10B | 5.46% | 0.63% | $7.4B |
| 39 | Bank Of Eastern Oregon | Heppner, OR | $300M-$1B | 5.40% | 1.91% | $934M |
| 40 | Sutton Bank | Attica, OH | $1B-$3B | 5.39% | 5.09% | $1.7B |
| 41 | Bancorp Bank National Association, The | Sioux Falls, SD | $3B-$10B | 5.38% | 3.00% | $9.2B |
| 42 | Titan Bank, N.A. | Mineral Wells, TX | $300M-$1B | 5.37% | 11.11% | $896M |
| 43 | Capital Bank, National Association | Rockville, MD | $3B-$10B | 5.36% | 1.25% | $3.8B |
| 44 | Fm Bank And Trust | Blytheville, AR | $1B-$3B | 5.30% | 2.64% | $1.4B |
| 45 | Thrivent Bank | Salt Lake City, UT | $300M-$1B | 5.29% | -1.63% | $906M |
| 46 | Herring Bank | Amarillo, TX | $300M-$1B | 5.27% | 0.15% | $541M |
| 47 | Western Commerce Bank | Carlsbad, NM | $300M-$1B | 5.25% | 3.25% | $864M |
| 48 | Southwest Bank | Odessa, TX | $300M-$1B | 5.24% | 1.95% | $694M |
| 49 | Western State Bank | Devils Lake, ND | $1B-$3B | 5.19% | 2.02% | $2.5B |
| 50 | Northrim Bank | Anchorage, AK | $3B-$10B | 5.18% | 1.98% | $3.4B |
Source: FFIEC call report data for the quarter ending June 30, 2026. Universe: US commercial banks with $500M or more in total assets that reported a non-null NIM. Outliers above 15% NIM excluded.
Why the top of the list looks like this
If you scan the top 15, a pattern jumps out: Salt Lake City, Sandy, Draper, Sioux Falls, Wilmington. These are not coincidences. They are the home addresses of US industrial banks and credit-card-bank subsidiaries chartered in states with bank-friendly tax and regulatory frameworks (Utah and South Dakota lead the pack, with Delaware close behind for credit card charters).
An industrial bank's earning-asset mix is closer to a consumer-finance company than a community bank. WebBank, FinWise, Lead Bank, Pathward, Coastal Community Bank, and Column are all banking-as-a-service or fintech-sponsor banks whose loan books are largely small-business and consumer credit originated through partner platforms. The yields on those loans are high. The funding mix often includes interest-bearing demand and brokered deposits, but the gross spread is still large enough to put NIM in the 6 to 14 percent range.
Synchrony, AmEx National Bank, Capital One N.A., Barclays Bank Delaware, TD Bank USA, and FNB Omaha are all in the same family of explanation (Sallie Mae Bank sits just outside the list this quarter at #57 and 5.06%): they are not relationship banks in the traditional sense. They are credit-card banks or specialty consumer lenders that sit inside a holding company structure. NIM at 8 to 12 percent is what credit card receivables produce when you back them out of a normal-looking funding stack.
Peer group one: community banks
If you look past the specialty banks, the community banks in the top 50 share a different profile. Sunmark Community Bank in Perry, GA. First Savings Bank in Beresford, SD. Anderson Brothers Bank in Mullins, SC. First National Bank in Fort Pierre, SD. FM Bank and Trust in Blytheville, AR. These are smaller-town banks running in the $500M to $3B asset range.
Two factors do most of the work. First, low-cost deposits. A bank with a 60-plus percent demand and savings share, in a market with limited rate-shopping pressure, can fund itself at well under 100 basis points even in the current rate environment. Second, a loan book tilted toward higher-yield categories: ag operating lines, used-car indirect, construction, manufactured housing. The combination produces a clean 5 to 6 percent NIM without anything exotic going on.
These banks tend to be the ones that look the most attractive in a credit-stress scenario too, because their ROA holds up better when interest income compresses. Sunmark at 2.89% ROA on a 6.41% NIM is the kind of profile that looks identical in good cycles and bad cycles. There is real durability in that number.
Peer group two: regional banks
In the $3B to $50B range, the top 50 reveals a mix. You have the obvious specialty-bank entries: Pathward, Celtic, SoFi, TBK Bank. You also have a smaller cluster of genuine regionals that earn their NIM the hard way. Stearns Bank N.A. in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, runs a 5.66% NIM at $3.3B in assets with a 2.09% ROA. Capital Bank N.A. in Rockville, Maryland, runs 5.36%. First National Bank of Omaha at $34.2B is an interesting case: a mid-sized regional with a 6.00% NIM driven heavily by its credit-card and consumer book.
The signal worth watching here is the spread between NIM and ROA. A bank with a 6% NIM and a 0.8% ROA is taking on credit risk or loss provision that is eating most of the margin. A bank at the same NIM with a 2.5% ROA has the credit discipline to turn spread into profit. Look at TBK Bank at 5.46% NIM / 0.63% ROA versus Stearns at 5.66% / 2.09%. Both run hot, but only one is keeping it.
Peer group three: national banks
There are four banks over $100B in the top 50: Synchrony ($114.9B), American Express National Bank ($217.6B), Capital One N.A. ($672B), and (just outside the top 5) several other monolines. None of them is a "national bank" in the way most people use the phrase. They are all consumer-credit specialists. JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., Bank of America N.A., Wells Fargo Bank N.A., and Citibank N.A. do not make this list at all. Their Q2 2026 NIMs sit in the 2.5 to 3.0 percent range, perfectly normal for a diversified national bank with a large deposit franchise.
If you are trying to build a comparable peer set for a real diversified bank, do not use this ranking. Use the FFIEC peer-group medians in the BankingLens dashboard, which split the universe by asset band and bank model. A 3.1% NIM for a $50B regional commercial bank is a perfectly healthy result. Comparing that bank to AmEx is not analysis. It is a category error.
A note on what NIM does not tell you
A high NIM is not the same as a healthy bank. Of the 50 banks listed, six reported a 2026 Q2 ROA below 1.0%, and two reported outright losses: Coastal Community Bank at -1.14% and Thrivent Bank at -1.63%. High NIM with low ROA means most of the spread is being consumed by overhead, credit-loss provisions, or both. That is exactly the situation a banking-as-a-service partner would worry about if their sponsor bank started to slip.
Ranking banks by NIM is most useful when you pair it with peer-group context and at least one bottom-line measure. Bank Peer Intel on the dashboard does both: every bank's NIM is shown alongside its peer-group percentile rank, a multi-quarter trend, the matching ROA, and the loss-provision line. That is how you tell a structurally strong NIM from a temporarily juiced one.
Methodology
- Universe. All US commercial banks that filed a Q2 2026 call report with the FFIEC. 4,296 reporters.
- Filter. Removed banks with under $500M in total assets to keep the list focused on institutions of practical interest. Removed any bank with a reported NIM above 15%, which is almost always a data artifact from a new charter or a one-time gain. Remaining universe: 1,796 banks.
- NIM definition. Net interest income divided by average earning assets, annualized, as computed in the call report.
- Ranking. Sorted by NIM descending. Top 50 shown.
- Source. FFIEC Central Data Repository, call report data for the period ending June 30, 2026. Joined to bank-level metadata (name, city, state, asset-size bucket, primary peer group) from the same source.
Related reading
- What is Net Interest Margin (NIM)? - the formula, what is good, and how it moves through a Fed cycle.
- How do FFIEC peer groups work? - why peer comparison matters more than the absolute number.
- What is a bank's efficiency ratio? - the other half of the profitability picture, and why a high NIM does not guarantee a high ROA.
Photo by Jakub Zerdzicki on Unsplash.