BankingLENS

Field notes · Q2 2026

The 50 US banks with the highest return on assets, Q2 2026

Data from FFIEC call reports for the quarter ending June 30, 2026. Published September 20, 2026.

Short version: Of the 1,792 US banks holding at least $500M in assets that reported a return on assets for Q2 2026, the 50th-highest came in at 2.89%. The median across the same group was 1.27%. The top of the table is Square Financial Services, Inc. of Salt Lake City, UT at 37.37%.

What you are looking at

Return on assets is net income over average total assets: the summary number, the one every other ratio on a call report eventually feeds into. It is also the fairest comparison across sizes, because it does not reward a bank for being thinly capitalized the way return on equity does.

A bank earning over 1% is doing well. Sustained readings above 2% mean the business model is doing something unusual, and the table below is mostly a list of those models.

The ranking is built from the FFIEC call reports filed for the period ending June 30, 2026 - the same data the BankingLens dashboard serves, not a sample. Two screens are applied before anything is sorted. Banks under $500M in total assets are left out, because at that size a single lumpy quarter moves a ratio further than any strategy would and a national list becomes a list of accidents. And a charter has to be in the banking business to be ranked: deposits worth at least a quarter of its assets, or loans worth at least a quarter of its assets. That second screen removes 11 trust and custody charters this quarter, whose ratios are arithmetic rather than performance.

1,792 banks clear both screens and reported a return on assets this quarter. 26 of the 50 below link to their own page, where the same figures sit beside the rest of the call report.

The 50 banks, ranked

Click a column header to sort. ROA is the headline number; ROE is the same profit measured against equity instead of assets, which is where leverage shows up.

# Bank HQ Asset band ROA ROE Assets
1 Square Financial Services, Inc. Salt Lake City, UT $1B - $3B 37.37% 59.78% $2.1B
2 Credit One Bank Las Vegas, NV $1B - $3B 25.19% 91.37% $2.4B
3 Titan Bank Mineral Wells, TX $500M - $1B 11.11% 99.10% $896M
4 Stafford Savings Bank Stafford Springs, CT $500M - $1B 8.32% 17.16% $507M
5 Crescent Bank Metairie, LA $1B - $3B 8.30% 63.09% $1.1B
6 Column Chico, CA $1B - $3B 8.30% 72.66% $1.8B
7 Beal Bank USA Las Vegas, NV $10B - $100B 8.25% 38.83% $11.0B
8 First Electronic Bank Salt Lake City, UT $500M - $1B 7.60% 19.35% $503M
9 Enterprise Bank of South Carolina Ehrhardt, SC $500M - $1B 6.25% 81.76% $535M
10 Bank of Stockton Stockton, CA $3B - $10B 6.05% 31.89% $5.0B
11 The Pitney Bowes Bank Inc. Salt Lake City, UT $500M - $1B 5.41% 55.72% $796M
12 Quill Bank Pleasant Grove, UT $1B - $3B 5.31% 37.31% $1.6B
13 Sutton Bank Attica, OH $1B - $3B 5.09% 37.72% $1.7B
14 Comenity Bank Wilmington, DE $3B - $10B 5.00% 36.60% $7.4B
15 Bank of Utica Utica, NY $1B - $3B 4.79% 18.60% $1.5B
16 Webbank Salt Lake City, UT $1B - $3B 4.52% 28.45% $2.9B
17 Eaglemark Savings Bank Reno, NV $500M - $1B 4.48% 20.18% $756M
18 Newtek Bank Miami, FL $1B - $3B 4.44% 50.18% $2.5B
19 First Credit Bank West Hollywood, CA $500M - $1B 4.36% 9.30% $516M
20 WEX Bank Sandy, UT $10B - $100B 4.29% 50.64% $10.7B
21 State Bank of Texas Irving, TX $1B - $3B 4.29% 27.60% $2.6B
22 Monet Bank Plano, TX $3B - $10B 3.99% 12.27% $3.2B
23 Peoples Bank Mendenhall, MS $500M - $1B 3.98% 35.08% $503M
24 First Bank Kansas Salina, KS $500M - $1B 3.86% 50.51% $619M
25 American Express National Bank Sandy, UT Over $100B 3.72% 41.50% $213.9B
26 The Bank of Southside Virginia Carson, VA $500M - $1B 3.69% 18.20% $670M
27 Carter Bank & Trust Martinsville, VA $3B - $10B 3.65% 37.45% $4.8B
28 Woodtrust Bank Wisconsin Rapids, WI $500M - $1B 3.44% 37.25% $735M
29 Celtic Bank Corporation Salt Lake City, UT $3B - $10B 3.39% 19.30% $5.3B
30 Prime Alliance Bank Woods Cross, UT $1B - $3B 3.39% 33.49% $1.1B
31 Anchor Bank Palm Beach Gardens, FL $500M - $1B 3.38% 41.04% $806M
32 County Bank Rehoboth Beach, DE $500M - $1B 3.34% 23.69% $696M
33 Stifel Trust Company Saint Louis, MO $500M - $1B 3.34% 50.42% $911M
34 Newfirst National Bank El Campo, TX $500M - $1B 3.29% 27.34% $935M
35 Western Commerce Bank Carlsbad, NM $500M - $1B 3.25% 33.53% $864M
36 Interbank Oklahoma City, OK $3B - $10B 3.24% 27.32% $5.3B
37 John Deere Financial, F.S.B. Middleton, WI $3B - $10B 3.10% 15.12% $4.9B
38 Ameriprise Bank, FSB Minneapolis, MN $10B - $100B 3.06% 50.60% $25.5B
39 Luminate Bank Minneapolis, MN $500M - $1B 3.04% 31.30% $555M
40 Hamlin Bank and Trust Company Smethport, PA $500M - $1B 3.03% 15.01% $503M
41 The Peoples Bank Pratt, KS $500M - $1B 3.01% 42.33% $531M
42 The Bancorp Bank Sioux Falls, SD $3B - $10B 3.00% 31.81% $9.2B
43 The Yellowstone Bank Laurel, MT $1B - $3B 2.98% 22.71% $1.3B
44 Great American Bank Lawrence, KS $500M - $1B 2.98% 21.95% $513M
45 Horizon Bank Waverly, NE $500M - $1B 2.95% 19.92% $574M
46 Citizens State Bank - La Crosse La Crosse, WI $500M - $1B 2.94% 23.20% $649M
47 Hana Bank USA Fort Lee, NJ $500M - $1B 2.94% 10.94% $835M
48 First American Bank Artesia, NM $1B - $3B 2.92% 28.27% $1.9B
49 Bessemer Trust Company New York, NY $3B - $10B 2.90% 38.35% $4.2B
50 Sunmark Community Bank Perry, GA $500M - $1B 2.89% 21.30% $557M

Source: FFIEC call report data for the quarter ending June 30, 2026. Universe: US banks with $500M or more in total assets that reported a return on assets and fund or lend like a bank. Sorted descending.

Leaders by asset size

A single national list on a ratio like this is really a list of business models, and the largest banks and the smallest ones are not competing with each other for anything. These are the leaders inside each asset band, which is the comparison a bank of that size would actually make.

# Bank HQ ROA Assets
$500M - $1B · 746 banks · median 1.28%
1 Titan Bank Mineral Wells, TX 11.11% $896M
2 Stafford Savings Bank Stafford Springs, CT 8.32% $507M
3 First Electronic Bank Salt Lake City, UT 7.60% $503M
4 Enterprise Bank of South Carolina Ehrhardt, SC 6.25% $535M
5 The Pitney Bowes Bank Inc. Salt Lake City, UT 5.41% $796M
$1B - $3B · 625 banks · median 1.20%
1 Square Financial Services, Inc. Salt Lake City, UT 37.37% $2.1B
2 Credit One Bank Las Vegas, NV 25.19% $2.4B
3 Crescent Bank Metairie, LA 8.30% $1.1B
4 Column Chico, CA 8.30% $1.8B
5 Quill Bank Pleasant Grove, UT 5.31% $1.6B
$3B - $10B · 263 banks · median 1.34%
1 Bank of Stockton Stockton, CA 6.05% $5.0B
2 Comenity Bank Wilmington, DE 5.00% $7.4B
3 Monet Bank Plano, TX 3.99% $3.2B
4 Carter Bank & Trust Martinsville, VA 3.65% $4.8B
5 Celtic Bank Corporation Salt Lake City, UT 3.39% $5.3B
$10B - $100B · 126 banks · median 1.26%
1 Beal Bank USA Las Vegas, NV 8.25% $11.0B
2 WEX Bank Sandy, UT 4.29% $10.7B
3 Ameriprise Bank, FSB Minneapolis, MN 3.06% $25.5B
4 International Bank of Commerce Laredo, TX 2.81% $10.2B
5 Sallie Mae Bank Salt Lake City, UT 2.78% $28.5B
Over $100B · 32 banks · median 1.20%
1 American Express National Bank Sandy, UT 3.72% $213.9B
2 Synchrony Bank Draper, UT 2.85% $115.2B
3 Capital One Mc Lean, VA 1.68% $662.2B
4 Morgan Stanley Bank Salt Lake City, UT 1.64% $419.3B
5 JPMorgan Chase Bank Columbus, OH 1.60% $4.09T

What normal looks like

A ranking only means something against the middle of the distribution. These are the quartiles for return on assets across every bank that filed for Q2 2026, including the thousands too small to appear above. The median bank reported 1.23%, with the middle half between 0.83% and 1.66%.

Asset band 25th pct Median 75th pct
Under $100M 0.48% 1.06% 1.61%
$100M - $300M 0.78% 1.22% 1.68%
$300M - $1B 0.87% 1.28% 1.70%
$1B - $3B 0.88% 1.20% 1.62%
$3B - $10B 1.08% 1.34% 1.64%
$10B - $100B 1.00% 1.25% 1.58%
Over $100B 1.03% 1.20% 1.41%

Source: BankingLens, computed from FFIEC call reports for the quarter ending June 30, 2026. Quartiles are calculated across the full population of filing banks in each size band, not sampled.

Why the top of the list looks like this

High ROA comes from one of three engines, and the ROE column beside it tells you which. A bank with high ROA and high ROE is earning well on a normal balance sheet. A bank with high ROA and a comparatively modest ROE is carrying a great deal of capital against those earnings, which is the signature of specialty charters whose parent leaves them overcapitalized.

The first engine is yield: consumer and card lenders whose loan books earn multiples of a commercial rate. The second is leanness, where an unusually small expense base leaves more of an ordinary margin intact. The third is fee income that is not really banking at all - payments, processing, trust and servicing revenue sitting on a small balance sheet.

Ordinary banks appear here too, and are worth more attention than the specialty charters. A community or regional bank earning well above its peer group on a conventional balance sheet has an advantage in funding, in credit, or in expense, and it will show up again in the other rankings on this site.

What ROA does not tell you

One quarter of ROA is not a business model. Securities gains, branch sales, negative provisions after a recovery and tax-line one-offs all land in net income, and any of them can carry a bank into a top-fifty list it does not belong in. Four quarters in a row is the shortest read worth trusting.

It is also silent on risk. Return earned by concentrating in one loan category, or by running a thin capital base, prices in a stress the numerator has not met yet. The tier 1 leverage and nonperforming loan figures on each bank’s page are the other half of that picture.

Which is why a ranking is a starting point rather than an answer. Every bank above has a page here carrying its full call report picture, and Bank Peer Intel on the dashboard puts each figure against the peer group the bank is actually measured in - percentile rank on every metric, fourteen quarters of trend, and the flags an examiner reaches for first. That is how you tell a structural result from a good quarter.

Methodology

Related reading

See where any bank sits, not just the top 50.

The dashboard updates with every FFIEC release. ROA by peer group, by asset band and by state, beside the margin, return, capital and credit metrics that explain it. Sortable, filterable, exportable.

See the dashboard