Unraveling Commercial Banking’s Journey: A Comprehensive Analysis of Financial Performance and Business Strategy in the Dynamic Financial Landscape

Overview:
The commercial banking project is a comprehensive analysis of the financial performance and business strategy of a
selected bank holding company (BHC) within the dynamic financial landscape. It involves conducting financial ratio
analysis, trend analysis, and comparison with industry averages. You are required to prepare graphs, submit written
analyses, and deliver a presentation, utilizing resources from the FDIC website and demonstrating proficiency in
financial analysis, data interpretation, and effective oral and written communication. I will provide you with your
topic and bank for analysis. You are assigned a specific bank holding company (BHC) to analyze, ensuring
consistency. The project aims to develop skills in financial analysis and effective communication.

Deliverables:

Word

Learning Outcomes:
The commercial banking project facilitates learning finance theories for analyzing BHC financial performance,
utilizing information technology for data analysis and presentation, enhancing writing skills through project analysis,
improving presentation skills through video creation and delivery, and developing highly valued collaborative skills.

This assignment deepens your understanding of financial performance analysis and business strategy in the
commercial banking sector. The central task of the assignment can be broken down into the following tasks:

1. Utilize resources from the FDIC website to gather necessary data for the analysis.
2. Perform financial ratio analysis for your bank holding company (BHC) using financial statement
information:
Gain familiarity with the analysis process and learn to interpret the results.
Conduct a trend analysis, building upon the ratio analysis, to analyze your bank over time.
Compare your bank’s ratios to industry averages for insights into alignment or differentiation.
3. Complete two distinct parts that lay the foundation for understanding key financial indicators and ratios
commonly used in evaluating a bank’s performance and business strategy:

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Part A focuses on standard ratio analysis to assess financial performance.
Part B focuses on standard ratio analysis to understand the bank’s business strategy such as product
offerings, market positioning, risk management, and cost efficiency.
4. Provide an informative written analysis of your bank’s financial performance and underlying business
strategy using end-of-year financial statement information:
Reinforce your understanding of financial concepts.
Enhance your critical thinking skills.
Improve your communication abilities.
5. Present the findings through a video presentation, demonstrating effective oral communication skills.
6. Interact with peers in the discussion forum by asking questions, answering questions, commenting on their
video presentations.
7. Progressively refine analytical and writing skills, preparing to effectively communicate findings and insights
to stakeholders in the banking industry through the sequential nature of the assignments.

Genre:
The commercial banking project integrates finance and banking communication genres. It includes financial analysis,
data interpretation, and effective communication. Deliverables comprise written analyses, graphs, discussions, and
video presentations, aligned with common finance genres. The project covers financial ratio and trend analysis,
following academic and professional finance writing conventions. Emphasis on video presentations aligns with
industry practices. It benefits students and professionals in finance careers, developing skills in analysis,
interpretation, and communication.

Scope and Parts:
In Part A, you will perform a comprehensive financial analysis of the selected bank. This analysis involves
evaluating various financial ratios, assessing profitability, asset quality, liquidity, and other key performance
indicators. By comparing the bank’s ratios to industry benchmarks over time, you will gain insights into its financial

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health and competitiveness. You will provide a written analysis of the results, supported by detailed information
obtained from the bank’s financial statements.
Part B focuses on understanding the bank’s business strategy and its impact on financial performance. You will
examine the bank’s strategic decisions, such as product offerings, market positioning, risk management, and cost
efficiency. By analyzing relevant financial ratios and comparing them to industry averages over time, you will assess
the effectiveness of the bank’s strategy. You will provide relevant comments based on your findings, highlighting
strengths and areas for improvement.
Steps and directions:
The following information provides a guideline outlining the steps and directions to follow in order to successfully
complete the project.
You should download all necessary data for the ratio analysis from the FDIC website. Before initiating the data
download, it is essential to access the necessary information from the FDIC website (fdic.gov).

Familiarize yourself
with the available tools and data products that can be utilized for your analysis. These include:
1. BankFind Suite: This tool provides access to comprehensive information about individual banks, such as
their financials, locations, and regulatory history.
2. Institution Financial Reports: These reports offer detailed financial statements and related data for each
institution, allowing for in-depth analysis of their financial performance.
3. Peer Group Comparisons: This tool enables comparison of specific banks to their peers in terms of various
financial metrics, facilitating industry benchmarking and performance evaluation.
4. Summary of Deposits: This resource provides data on deposit market share by institution and geographic
region, offering insights into the competitive position of banks.
5. Historic Bank Data: This database contains historical financial and structural information about banks,
enabling analysis of trends and long-term performance.
6. Events and Changes: This tool provides information on significant events and changes in the banking industry, including mergers, acquisitions, closures, and regulatory actions.

By exploring these tools and resources available at https://www.fdic.gov/resources/tools/bank-data-
guide/index.html, you will be equipped to efficiently and effectively download the necessary data from the FDIC
website.
When conducting the ratio analysis, it is important for you to include the following components in your assessment:
Definition of the Ratio: Clearly define each financial ratio being analyzed. This helps to establish a common
understanding of what the ratio measures and its significance.
Interpretation of the Ratio: Provide a detailed interpretation of each ratio. Explain what the ratio reveals
about the financial health, performance, or efficiency of the bank holding company. Discuss the implications
of the ratio in terms of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, and overall financial position.
Time Trend Analysis: Analyze the ratios over a period of time, preferably using year-end data starting from
2000 (or the earliest available) to the latest year. Identify any significant trends, patterns, or changes in the
ratios over the years. Discuss the potential economic mechanisms or factors that might have contributed to
these changes and their implications for the company’s financial performance.
Industry Comparison: Compare the bank holding company’s ratios to industry benchmarks or competitors.
This allows for a contextual understanding of the company’s performance relative to its peers. Discuss how
the company’s ratios compare to industry averages or benchmarks, and highlight any notable strengths or
weaknesses in relation to the industry.
Economic Mechanisms: Analyze the underlying economic mechanisms driving the changes in the ratios.
Investigate the factors that influenced the observed changes in the ratios, such as shifts in market conditions,
changes in regulatory environment, strategic decisions, or operational adjustments. Connect these
mechanisms to the observed changes in the ratios and discuss their implications for the company’s financial
performance.

For the Commercial Banking Project, it is important to understand and adhere to the following
instructions: All questions and issues related to the assignment must be handled within your respective
groups. The professor will not be available to answer queries, as this is crucial for maintaining fairness
and avoiding any undue advantage. You are encouraged to rely on and foster teamwork within your
groups. Additionally, interaction and consultation with other groups are highly recommended, enhancing
the learning experience through collaborative efforts. This approach aligns with the core objectives of a
“research” and “group” project, focusing on developing your research capabilities and teamwork skills.
Directly seeking answers from the professor is not in line with the learning goals of this assignment. Let’s
embrace this opportunity to grow through mutual cooperation and independent research.

Project Components:

A. Commercial bank financial analysis
1. Perform a comprehensive ratio analysis by utilizing the latest available year-end (December 31) financial
statement data for the bank holding company (BHC) under examination. Follow the methodology outlined in
Chapter 12 of the textbook, while keeping in mind that the definition of “operating income” to be used should
be the more standard definition:
Operating income = noninterest income + net interest income – provisions for loan losses.
Reproduce the financial ratios chart for the analysis of your bank as below. Once the analysis is complete,
provide a concise and informative written assessment of the results, incorporating the given instructions.
2. Construct trend lines:
Compile trend data for your BHC for each of the five performance ratios. Utilize year-end data from
2000 to the latest available year.
Compile trend data for the banking industry for each of the five performance ratios. Utilize year-end
data from 2000 to the latest available year.
Prepare five graphs that compare the trend lines for your BHC to those for the industry.
Provide a brief but informative written analysis of the results. Has your BHC differed from the
averages? Or is it similar to the averages? Why?
Has your BHC been seriously affected by the subprime mortgage meltdown? If so, how?
Important Note: The reports are standard for each company and the industry and all items are reported.
However, industry numbers do not need to be under the same label/heading as the individual bank data.
Return on
Equity
Equity
Multiplier
Return on
Assets
Asset Turnover
(Utilization)
Return on Sales
(Profit Margin)

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To effectively address the given questions, it is recommended to explore specific sections within the income
statements and balance sheets of your chosen Bank Holding Company (BHC). Here are some key areas to focus on:
(a) Loan Portfolio Composition: Analyze the breakdown of the BHC’s loan portfolio by different categories such as
commercial loans, consumer loans, real estate loans, etc. This helps in understanding the composition and
diversification of the BHC’s lending activities.
(b) Deposit Funding: Examine the sources of deposit funding for the BHC. Look for information on the types of
deposits, such as demand deposits, savings deposits, time deposits, etc. This analysis provides insights into the
BHC’s funding structure and its reliance on different types of deposits.
(c) Noninterest Income: Explore the details of the BHC’s noninterest income. Identify sources such as fees and
commissions, investment income, trading income, and other non-lending related revenue streams. This assessment
sheds light on the BHC’s revenue diversification and the significance of noninterest income in its overall financial
performance.
(d) Loan Quality: Investigate indicators of loan quality, such as nonperforming loans, loan loss reserves, and charge-
offs. Assess the BHC’s ability to manage credit risk and the overall health of its loan portfolio.
(e) Cost Efficiency: Analyze the BHC’s operating expenses and efficiency ratios. Look for information on personnel
expenses, occupancy costs, technology investments, and other operating costs. This evaluation helps in
understanding the BHC’s cost management efforts and efficiency levels.
(f) Interest Margin: Focus on the BHC’s net interest income, interest expenses, and interest rate spread. Assess the
BHC’s ability to generate interest income from its lending activities and manage interest rate risks.
By delving into these specific sections and details within the income statements and balance sheets, you will gather
valuable insights to answer the questions comprehensively and gain a deeper understanding of the BHC’s financial
performance.
NOTE: To answer these questions, you might want to click on some of the links within the income statements
and balance sheets for your BHC. This will reveal more detailed information and help you answer this
question. Good places to look are (a) loan portfolio composition (b) deposit funding (c) noninterest income (d)
loan quality (e) cost efficiency (f) interest margin.

B. Exploring the business strategy of your bank:
1. What are the fundamental underpinnings of your bank’s financial performance? Repeat the time trend
analysis from part A, but this time, compare the following financial ratios (see text book) for your banking
company to the industry averages:
Net interest margin.
Allowance for loan losses, as a % of assets.
Loans to core deposits ratio.
Loans to assets ratio.
Noninterest income, as a % of operating income.
Cost efficiency ratio = noninterest expense/operating income.
Equity-to-Assets ratio.
Remember to define operating income as:
net interest income – provisions for loan losses + noninterest income.
2. Noninterest income. Calculate noninterest income/operating income for your bank in 2022. Also, analyze
the components of noninterest income in 2022, dividing each type of noninterest income by total noninterest
income. Compare to the industry averages. Comment.

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3. Loan portfolio. Calculate loans/assets for your bank in 2022. Also, analyze the components of the loan
portfolio in 2022, dividing each type of loan by total loans. Compare to the industry averages. Comment.
4. Deposit funding. Calculate deposits/assets for your bank in 2022. Also, analyze the components of the
deposit mix in 2022, dividing each type of loan by total deposits. Compare to the industry averages.
Comment.
5. Please mix-in any additional analysis, information, or anecdotes useful for communicating your bank’s
business strategy and performance to the class.
When analyzing items 2, 3, and 4 (Allowance for Loan Losses as a % of Assets, Loans to Core Deposits Ratio, and
Loans to Assets Ratio), it is permissible to combine various categories of noninterest income, loans, and deposits to
effectively demonstrate your bank’s business strategies. This flexibility allows you to present the analysis in a
manner that best aligns with your bank’s specific objectives and operations.
To organize and present the data for items 2, 3, and 4, pie charts can be an effective visual tool. Pie charts allow for
a clear representation of the composition and proportions of different categories within each ratio. They visually
communicate the significance of specific components and help highlight the bank’s strategic focus.
For example, in analyzing the Allowance for Loan Losses as a % of Assets, you can create a pie chart illustrating the
allocation of the allowance for loan losses across different loan categories. This provides insights into the bank’s risk
management approach and the level of provisioning for potential losses in each loan segment.
Similarly, for the Loans to Core Deposits Ratio and Loans to Assets Ratio, pie charts can be used to depict the
breakdown of loans based on their types or categories. This showcases the bank’s lending strategies, emphasizing the
relative importance of various loan segments and their relationship to core deposits or total assets.
By utilizing pie charts, the analysis becomes visually engaging and enhances the clarity of your bank’s business
strategies. It allows stakeholders to easily grasp the key components and proportions within each ratio, facilitating a
more comprehensive understanding of your bank’s financial position and operational priorities.

The project write-up (Word Document)should be based on what you learned about your bank in the assignment,
including your analysis, information, or anecdotes useful for communicating the following to the class:
Your bank’s business strategy
o Comparisons over time
o Comparisons to the banking industry
Its financial performance using that business strategy
o The returns (book and market) being generated by your bank
o Comparisons of returns (book and market) being generated by your bank over time
o Comparisons of returns (book and market) being generated by your bank to the market and
the banking industry
How do the accounting ratios (book returns) compare relative to the banking
industry?
How does the stock price of your bank (market returns) compare relative to the
market and the banking industry?*
The underlying drivers of returns and risk for your bank
How your bank has stacked up against other banks in recent years?
The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing your bank.
The risks that your bank is taking to generate earnings.
o Is your bank exposed to interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, insolvency risk, or other
types of risk? If so, is the exposure serious?
The risk management strategies that your bank is following to alleviate these risks
o Is your bank practicing risk-mitigation techniques, either on or off the balance sheet?
The current situation, the trends that led to the current situation, and a future outlook

* Note:
Stock prices from different firms are not directly comparable. Market to Book Ratio and Stock Returns can be
used to compare firms for a single year, or for a time trend.
Market to Book Ratio = (stock price * number of shares) / book equity
Stock Returns = (year-end price – year start price + dividends during year) / (year start price)