State Bank Financial Corporationhas been named the top performing bank inthe United States, according toBank Directormagazine's 2011 Bank Performance Scorecard, a ranking of the 150 largest U.S. publicly traded banks and thrifts based on 2010 calendar-year financials.

"We are extremely pleased and humbled to receive this distinction," saidJoe Evans, chairman and CEO of State Bank. "As the article so articulately states, we view the building of State Bank as a once in a lifetime opportunity." OnJuly 24, 2011, State Bank celebrated the second anniversary of its first FDIC-assisted acquisition: the banking franchise ofMacon, Georgia-based Security Bank Corp. Since then, State Bank has completed four other acquisitions with the assistance of the FDIC and continues to grow its presence in Middle Georgia and metroAtlanta.

Bank Director's analysis, compiled by research firm Sandler O'Neill, is designed to identify institutions that are strong in three critical areas: profitability, capital and asset quality. The scorecard uses "return on average assets," "return on average equity," and "ratio of tangible common equity to tangible assets" as measurements of profitability and capital. The rankings also gauged a bank's "ratio of non-performing assets to loans and other real estate owned," and "ratio of net charge offs to average loans" to measure asset quality.

In 2010, State Bank composite ranking in all these categories placed it significantly ahead of the next nearest competitor. It recorded 1.66 percent return on average assets (#4 ranking), 13.07 percent return on average equity (#10), 12.42 percent tangible common equity to tangible assets (#10), 1.20 percent non-performing assets to loans and other real estate owned (#17), 0.13 ratio of net charge offs to average loans (#5), for composite score of 35. The second place bank scored 53.5.

AsBank Director's editor wrote in the profile of State Bank: "Companies that are built to be sold are rarely as good as companies that are built to last. But Evans seems intent on building a bank that can do its part to put theGeorgiaeconomy back on its feet – a bank that can go the distance."