the Future of Change

Just released, the New York Bank Ratings Index scores the nineteen largest banks by bank assets operating in New York State along 20 consumer-focused categories.  The index then ranks the banks according to how well they perform under all of the categories combined, with a potential score of 100.   More importantly, with a website that accompanies this index, consumers can customize the findings and create their own ranking, assigning different weights to the categories and focusing in on only those categories that matter the most to them.

Here is the ranking of these nineteen banks according to our assessment:

The information that formed the basis of this study was compiled in 2016, when Key Bank was still finalizing the purchase of First Niagara, so we left both banks in this ranking.

While creating an index such as this is somewhat in vogue, to my knowledge, very few such ranking projects allow for end-user customization, which is now available through the accompanying website.  Please check out the site and give the ranking a whirl to find the right bank for you.

If you do not live in New York State, you can still create your own ranking system based on what we have done in New York.  The accompanying report provides all of the background on the study and shows how different states and localities can create their own index and rankings.  Download the report here.

This ratings project was completed by Ralph Scunziano, a recent graduate of Albany Law School, and myself, in collaboration with the Empire Justice Center, a state-wide provider of free legal services to low-income New Yorkers, and the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD), which works to build the community development movement in New York City.  The website was constructed by Christopher Velez, who made initial iterations of the site as part of a class he teaches at the University at Albany, part of the State University of New York system.