Lake City Bank Named to KBW Bank Honor Roll of High Performing Banks for the 7th Consecutive Year

WARSAW, Ind., April 26, 2018 -- Lake City Bank, the single bank subsidiary of Lakeland Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:LKFN), announced today that the bank was included in the 2017 KBW Bank Honor Roll published by Keefe Bruyette & Woods (KBW). This represents the seventh consecutive year that the bank has earned a place in the listing. 

Lake City Bank is one of 16 banking institutions that met KBW’s criteria for inclusion in the 2017 Bank Honor Roll; the bank is also one of nine members returning to the list.

KBW’s criteria for inclusion in the Bank Honor Roll reverted this year to its pre-financial crisis methodology of highlighting banks that consecutively reported increases in annual earnings per share since 2009. To qualify for the Honor Roll, banks with more than $500 million in total assets must have reported consecutive increases in annual earnings per share before extraordinary items on a diluted basis.

“We view our inclusion in the KBW Bank Honor Roll as significant, since it places us among our top-performing peers for the seventh year in a row,” said David M. Findlay, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are proud of our long term track record of creating value for our shareholders and our inclusion in the KBW Honor Roll is a further affirmation of our performance over a long period of time.”

In addition to consecutive increases in annual earnings per share, KBW reported that 2017 Bank Honor Roll members significantly outperformed their banking peers and the market for the five years between 2012 and 2017. According to KBW, the Honor Roll banks also trade at a premium to their banking peers.

“KBW Honor Roll members have better-than-industry performance ratios and growth rates when compared to the publicly traded bank universe with total assets greater than $500 million, which includes nearly 370 companies listed on the NYSE and Nasdaq exchanges,” KBW said when announcing 2017 Honor Roll members.

The full news release announcing the 2017 Bank Honor Roll can be accessed at:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kbw-announces-bank-honor-roll-133000109.html

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp., is a full-service, boutique investment bank and broker-dealer that specializes in the financial services sector and is widely recognized as a leading authority in the banking industry.

Lake City Bank, a $4.7 billion bank headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana, is the fourth largest bank headquartered in the state, and the largest bank 100% invested in Indiana. Lake City Bank operates 49 branch offices in northern and central Indiana, delivering technology-driven solutions in a client-centric way to individuals and businesses. The bank is the single bank subsidiary of Lakeland Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:LKFN). For more information visit www.lakecitybank.com. 

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