StratEdge Research · Q4 2025
The StratEdge Bank Index
FDIC-insured banks spend 55.69% of net operating revenue on noninterest expense — and institutions under $100M in assets run 26.2 points less efficiently than the largest banks.
55.69%
Industry efficiency ratio
79.47%
Banks < $100M
53.28%
Banks > $250B
4,336
Institutions analyzed
Efficiency ratio by asset size
Noninterest expense as a share of net operating revenue — lower is more efficient. Smaller banks carry more back-office friction per dollar of revenue.
< $100M
572 banks
79.47%
$100M–$1B
2,712 banks
66.89%
$1B–$10B
900 banks
58.58%
$10B–$250B
136 banks
57.34%
> $250B
16 banks
53.28%
Source: FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile, Table III-A — Fourth Quarter 2025, All FDIC-Insured Institutions (n = 4,336 institutions).
Same friction pattern as credit unions
Document intake, loan packets, compliance review, and operational follow-up consume more of every revenue dollar at smaller institutions. StratEdge gives back-office teams one control layer for intake, documents, tasks, and AI-assisted review.
Methodology
Efficiency ratios are taken from FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile Table III-A (Fourth Quarter 2025, all FDIC-insured institutions). The efficiency ratio is noninterest expense divided by net operating revenue. Asset-size cohorts match FDIC reporting bands. All inputs are public federal data.