Banner Bank is having a banner year as several national awards shine a spotlight on the bank’s financial strength, service and workplace. 

For the third year, S&P Global Market Intelligence, a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), named Banner as one of the 50 Best Performing U.S. public banks. BauerFinancial, an independent bank research firm, has bestowed the bank a five-star rating for 45 consecutive quarters – and because Banner has held this award for over 10 years, it has additionally been designated an Exceptional Performance Bank. 

Other awards also include a place in Forbes Magazine’s 100 Best Banks in America for eight consecutive years, a Best Regional Bank in America by Newsweek, and One of the Most Trustworthy Companies in America by Newsweek for the second consecutive year.

Banner’s branch network in the Tri-Cities is made up of one in Richland, two in Kennewick and two in Pasco.

There are nearly 100 employees in the greater Tri-Cities area and more than 300 total with the inclusion of eastern Oregon and Walla Walla. In addition to the branches and client-facing team members in the Tri-City market, Banner Bank has a large number of employees working in support roles, including IT, operations and project management, among others. In fact, the most senior leader who runs the entire operations function for the bank is located there: Jennifer Krug, senior vice president, operations director.

The Tri-Cities-Columbia Basin commercial banking team did nearly $70 million in new loans last year. The team offers a range of projects and deals from small businesses up to large corporations and has a strong ag banking client base.

Overall, Banner Bank has had 7% loan growth in 2023, said Kelly McPhee, senior vice president of communications and public relations.

The senior leader over commercial banking in the Tri-Cities is Juliann Dodd, senior vice president and commercial banking center manager for the Tri-Cities and Columbia Basin.

Linda Underwood, senior vice president and commercial banking center manager for the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene market, said the bank's most recent accolades are a reflection of its overall consistent performance.

“For my team here in Spokane, we’re grateful for the recognition and number of awards particularly because it gets people's attention,” Underwood said. “But from just the day-to-day execution, the recognition is a nice enhancement to the momentum that our team has had.”

“We have good momentum in 2024 as well,” said Underwood, who joined Banner Bank in September 2022 after 13 years with U.S. Bank, including 12 as regional president. “We’re staying consistent in that regard.”

“Compared to our peers, that is an exceptionally strong loan growth in a year where rates were as high as they were,” McPhee said. 

Jim Reed, executive vice president of commercial banking for Banner Bank, said the recognition for how the bank does business is important – and humbling. 

“To see the award for trustworthiness is really gratifying because trust is everything in our industry,” Reed said. “And clients do read the Bauer rating, which was really important to the client base coming out of the Great Recession back in 2008 and 2009. When people ask where should they place their money, where is it safe? These awards resonate.”

The BauerFinancial rating award became popular during the Great Recession as an independent source that really understands financial institution balance sheets and helps provide consumers an easy-to-understand ranking to help them make a decision, McPhee said.

“If we talk about just our consistency, a Bauer rating for 45 consecutive quarters, that’s tremendous,” McPhee said. “Eight years at Forbes list of 100 Best Banks, that’s consistency. And we hear that over and over again; we don’t take any left turns, and we are out there for clients no matter what’s happening in all economic cycles.”

Banner Bank, a subsidiary of Banner Corp., is headquartered in Walla Walla, where its roots date back to 1890. Today, the bank has 2,000 employees within its four-state footprint of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and California.

Spokane is home to many of the bank’s back-office functions, including Banner Bank’s Employee Engagement Center – or call center – for the entire company, finance and accounting teams, a public relations and communications team, commercial loan servicing and a mortgage loan processing center. 

In the second quarter of 2024, net income was $39.8 million, or $1.15 per diluted share, compared with $39.6 million, or $1.15 per diluted share, for the year-earlier quarter. Banner Bank’s assets totaled $15.8 billion for the quarter ending on June 30, compared with $15.7 billion a year earlier. 

The loan-to-deposit ratio at the end of the second quarter was 85%, within the top 25% of peers nationally, McPhee said. Total loans were $11.1 billion as of June 30, up from $10.5 billion a year earlier.

Banner Corp. is a publicly traded company (Nasdaq:BANR) with shares closing at $59.57 as of Tuesday, Sept. 3, down from a 52-week high of $61.77 and up from a 52-week low of $39.31. 

Over the last 10 years, Banner Bank has doubled in growth, starting with its 2014 merger with Spokane-based AmericanWest Bank in a $702 million transaction, McPhee said. In 2018, it acquired Skagit Bancorp Inc., for $191 million, and in 2019 it acquired Alta Pacific Bancorp for $87.4 million.

Other awards and metrics that Banner Bank’s executives are proud of include awards in cybersecurity and workplace recognitions. 

In March, Banner was ranked No. 9 out of 50 on Forbes Magazine’s list of America's Most Cybersecure Banks, which Reed says is an important recognition considering today’s fraud and identification theft issues and that Banner Bank beat out some larger banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Citi Bank, which were ranked outside the top 10.

“That is by far the most topical issue from our client base today,” Reed said. “You just cannot do enough and invest enough, it’s critical. We take it seriously; all our employees take it seriously and it’s a point of pride.”

McPhee said she recently received news that Banner Bank has been selected as one of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Parents and Families 2024 by Newsweek. 

Employee satisfaction also is reflected in the company’s annualized turnover rate which this year is 18%, well below the industry average of more than 30%, McPhee said.  

Reed said these types of awards at a national level are also important in recruiting talent to the bank. 

“It helps with recruiting primarily at the executive level,” Reed said. “But people want to work for a well-run, high-performing organization regardless of the industry. If we have openings that require a national search, these are great things to have in our back pocket.” 

Moving forward, Reed contends the bank will continue to serve as a regional financial institution. Yet, he has received several calls from other banks wanting to know what Banner Bank is doing to receive so much recognition.

“We are very active in national organizations and trade groups,” he said. “That’s how you stay on top of not only cybersecurity trends, but product trends and consumer trends. You get out and talk to both the bigger banks and the smaller banks and try to aggregate that into the best of Banner.”

The Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business contributed to this report.