Is Your Ohio Bank Financially Safe?

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Is Your Ohio Bank Financially Safe?

As we head into earnings season, this is a good time to take a look at Ohio banks and savings and loans, continuing our series that has previously covered Florida, Georgia and California institutions.

According to RealtyTrac, one in every 410 households in Ohio receiving a foreclosure notice during the month, ranking it ninth of all U.S. states in May. The Cleveland and Toledo metro areas had the highest concentrations of foreclosure notices in the state.

With so many big banks in Ohio, let's start by looking at the 10 largest:

While JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is, of course, a New York holding company, its biggest bank charter is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, having moved into Bank One's offices there in 2004.

Not surprisingly, JPMorgan Chase Bank's earnings have suffered, with elevated provisions for loan-loss reserves over the past year. While the provision for loan-loss reserves for the first quarter was a whopper, at $3.7 billion, the bank reported net income of $2.1 billion, or a return on average assets (ROA) of 0.63% and a return on average equity (ROE) of 7.93%. While these earnings would be considered weak in better times, they look pretty good for 2008.

The holding company releases second quarter earnings results on Thursday. While it will probably have little effect on JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA, it will be fascinating to see the effect of the Bear Stearns acquisition on the holding company's financials.