CVB Financial Corp., the Ontario-based holding company for Citizens Business Bank, has been ranked the “Best Bank in America” for the second year in a row by Forbes magazine. It marks the fifth time the bank made Forbes’ list over the past six years, and the third time it topped the rankings. In establishing its “America’s Best Banks” listing, Forbes looked at 10 metrics related to credit quality, growth and profitability for all 100 of the largest publicly-traded banks in the nation.

The listing shows CVB Financial had $14.4 billion in assets as of Dec. 31 and a 15% return on equity, which measures the rate of return generated on money shareholders have invested in the bank.

CVB posted less than 1% in nonperforming assets for 2020 and the company had an efficiency ratio of 39%. That measures a bank’s ability to leverage its assets to generate income.

The efficiency ratio includes such factors as the time it takes to collect cash from customers and the amount of time it takes to convert inventory to cash. It’s an important metric because an improvement in efficiency usually translates to improved profitability.

David A. Brager, chief executive of CVB Financial Corp. and Citizens Business Bank, said stay-at-home orders, business shut-downs and a near-zero interest rate environment combined to create a challenging environment for financial institutions. But CVB weathered those challenges.

“The bank has continued to produce consistent earnings, maintain strong capital levels, solid credit quality and excellent liquidity,” he said. “We believe that there is a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, as the manufacturer and distribution of the new COVID vaccine hopefully continues to progress and increase.”

According to Forbes; cbbank.com; dailybulletin.com. Source of photos: internet