ST. LOUIS — St. Louis bank profits rose 5.5% in 2020 to $757.6 million compared with $718.4 million in 2019, despite the pandemic, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reported.
It's also an improvement from 2018, before the pandemic, when profits totaled $717 million. Furthermore, three fewer banks were based in St. Louis by year end 2020 than the previous year, 60 compared with 63, as banks continued to merge.
"In the face of a global pandemic, banks in the St. Louis area remained resilient and exhibited strong financial performance in 2020," said Carl White, senior vice president at the St. Louis Fed.
The largest St. Louis-based bank, Stifel Bank & Trust, posted a profit of $219.5 million, down from $258.3 million in 2019.
Besides Stifel Bank & Trust, the banks that were most profitable were: First Bank at $110.5 million, up from $70.1 million in 2019; Enterprise Bank & Trust at $86.6 million, down from $100.2 million; Central Bank of St. Louis at $43.4 million, up from $33.4 million; and Stifel Bank at $27.6 million, flat with its $27 million in 2019.
Stifel Bank & Trust and Stifel Bank are subsidiaries of St. Louis-based Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF).
Assets at St. Louis banks totaled $61 billion, up from $53 billion. Total loans reached $40.9 billion, up from $35.3 billion. Commercial and industrial loans totaled $12.7 billion, up from $9.4 billion at the end of 2019.
The net interest margin, an important measure of profitability, was 3.07%, not as good as the 3.36% in 2019, as interest rates remained historically low.
The banks continued to improve in other important measures of strength and stability in 2020. Nonperforming assets, for example, improved to 0.94% from 1.14% of total assets, and the average Texas ratio improved to 5.08% from 6.07%.
Looking ahead, White said, "While uncertainty surrounding overall economic activity and loan demand in 2021 remains, there are some early reasons for optimism throughout the country and in St. Louis," including strong economic output and growing GDP, another round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) lending, strong loan growth and increasing loan demand overall.
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