Four banks' drop in latest financial ratings
Jun. 22—Four banks, three in the Toledo area and one in southeast Michigan, had their financial ratings downgraded, according to the first quarter ratings by a Florida firm that monitors the health of banks and credit unions nationwide.
BauerFinancial Inc., an independent research firm based in Coral Gables, said all other banks and credit unions in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan maintained their ratings from December 2020 through March of 2021.
Each quarter, BauerFinancial rates banks and credit unions after analyzing their financial stability and strength. It assigns them a rating of zero to five stars based on their overall profile.
The company looks at a variety of financial benchmarks, including assets, capital, leverage capital ratio, quarterly income, year-to-date income, and nonperforming assets.
Institutions without enough assets to be rated are assigned a "N.R." designation for "Not Rated." Others are rated as Superior (five stars), Excellent (four stars), Good (three-and-a-half stars), Adequate (three stars), Problematic (two stars), and Troubled (one star). Zero stars is the lowest rating.
Genoa Banking Co., of Genoa, slipped to a four-star "Excellent" rating in the most recent quarter from its previous five-star "Superior" rating. In Fulton County, Metamora State Bank, of Metamora, also dropped to four stars from five stars. Also, Waterford Bank, N.A., of Toledo, saw its rating drop to four stars from five stars.
In Michigan, County National Bank of Hillsdale, dropped to a four-star rating from its previous five stars.
For the first quarter, BauerFinancial examined 35 credit unions and 25 banks in northwest Ohio, plus four credit unions and two banks in southeast Michigan.
In northwest Ohio, the firm gave 22 credit unions a five-star rating, eight a four-star rating, two a three-star rating, and one a two-star rating. Two credit unions had insufficient assets to be rated.
Nineteen Ohio banks received five-star ratings while six received four-star ratings.
In southeast Michigan two credit unions received five-star ratings, and another a four-star rating. A fourth credit union did not have enough assets to be rated. One bank in southeast Michigan had a five-star rating while the other had a four-star rating.
