BANKING : Only One County Institution Makes Findley Reports’ List of State’s Best

How bad was it for the banking industry last year?

There were fewer banks than ever on Findley Reports’ annual list of the state’s best-performing banks. The list consists of only 74 “premier-performing banks” out of 408 in the state, including Mariners Bank in San Clemente--the only Orange County bank on the list.

Typically, a quarter to a third of the state’s banks, including a dozen Orange County banks, meet the criteria set by the Anaheim consulting firm, which has been honoring top-performing banks since 1976.

Most of the top-rated banks are in Northern California, where recovery from the long-running recession is moving along better than in the lower half of the state, said Edward E. Schmidt, a co-director of Findley Reports.

Nearly all of Orange County’s 27 community banks are operating with various restrictions imposed by state or federal regulators, Schmidt said. The biggest problem for most has been the flagging value of real estate, which backs most loans and, therefore, has caused many to go bad.

“What we see, though, is an indication that such losses have bottomed out,” Schmidt said. Since 1991, when Findley Reports saw the recession begin to batter banks, the firm has lowered its criteria for becoming a premier-performing institution. One of the criteria, for instance, once required banks to increase loans and other assets by 8% a year. That was lowered to 5% in 1991 and lowered the next year to 0%--essentially maintaining the same size.

The consulting firm also selected only 25 banks, including Landmark Bank in La Habra, for its list of “commendable-performing banks,” a step below “premier-performing banks” but still an indication of a financially healthy institution.