WHAT IS
SAFE AND SOUND?
Capital works as a bulwark against losses and as protection for depositors during times of economic trouble for the bank. Therefore, when it comes to measuring an a bank's financial resilience, capital is key. When looking at safety and soundness, the higher the capital, the better.
On our test to measure capital adequacy, Atlantic Trust Company, National Association achieved a score of 30 out of a possible 30 points, beating out the national average of 13.13.
One way to measure this buffer is looking at a bank's Tier 1 capital ratio. Atlantic Trust Company, National Association's Tier 1 capital ratio was 104.11 percent, exceeding the 6 percent level regulators consider adequate, and higher than the national average of 25.65 percent. The higher the capital ratio, the better the bank will be able to weather financial difficulties.
Overall, Atlantic Trust Company, National Association held equity amounting to 75.03 percent of its assets, which exceeded the national average of 12.03 percent.
In this test, Bankrate tries to estimate the impact of troubled assets, such as unpaid loans, on the bank's capitalization and allocated loan loss reserves.
A bank with extensive holdings of these kinds of assets may eventually be required to use capital to absorb losses, shrinking its equity buffer. Many of those assets are also likely to be in non-accrual status and no longer earning interest for the bank, resulting in reduced earnings and potentially more risk of a failure in the future.
On Bankrate's asset quality test, Atlantic Trust Company, National Association scored 40 out of a possible 40 points, beating the national average of 37.49 points.
A handy indicator of asset quality is the percentage of problem assets a bank holds compared to its total assets.
Banks maintain a reserve known as an "allowance for loan and lease losses" to deal with problem assets . Comparing the reserve's size to the total amount of at-risk loans can be a widely used indicator when evaluating a bank's ability to manage problem assets. Unfortunately, the FDIC did not provide information on Atlantic Trust Company, National Association's loan loss allowance in its most recent filings.
A bank's ability to earn money affects its safety and soundness. A bank can retain its earnings, giving a boost to its capital cushion, or use them to address problematic loans, likely making the bank more resilient in tough times. Banks that are losing money, however, are less able to do those things.
On Bankrate's earnings test, Atlantic Trust Company, National Association scored 18 out of a possible 30, above the national average of 15.12.
Return on equity, calculated by dividing net income (profit, basically) by the total amount of equity, is one important way to measure a bank's earnings. The most recent annualized quarterly return on equity for Atlantic Trust Company, National Association was 9.15 percent, above the national average of 8.10 percent.
For the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, the bank reported net income of $15.2 million on total equity of $173.3 million. The bank experienced an annualized return on average assets, or ROA, of 7.20 percent, above the 1 percent deemed satisfactory in accordance with industry standards, and above the average for U.S. banks of 1.00 percent.
Bankrate.com's Safe & Sound Ratings provide a star rating system to evaluate the current financial status of financial institutions. The information gathered about banks, credit unions and thrifts is updated as set forth in the Terms of Use of Safe & Sound Ratings and Reports. The Safe & Sound Ratings information is grouped by categories of banks, thrifts and credit unions.
Bankrate.com evaluates the financial condition of institutions and assigns a one- to five-star rating for each with five stars representing the highest rating. Institutions with satisfactory performance will generally receive a rating of three or more stars. The majority of institutions fall into the three- to four-star range. An institution with an "NR" rating may be too new to rate or may have limited the publicly available information in their regulatory filings. The "NR" is not an indication of financial strength or weakness. The Safe & Sound rating is believed to be reliable, but the information is not guaranteed. In addition, events since the information was collected may have altered the institution's financial condition.