Banks from the Southwest, Midwest dominate Brand Value Index.

• Position: MARKETING NEWS - Company rankings

TEXAS DOMINATES the 2010 Bancography Brand Value Index (BBVI), as 15 institutions from that state rank in the top 10 across the four asset tiers in the ranking of brand strength.

Overall, the Southwest, the Midwest and the West place strongly in the rankings, with banks from those regions occupying 32 slots in the four top-10 rankings.

New banks sit atop the BBVI for the first time in two years. Northern Trust (Ill.) leads the nation's largest institutions (banks with assets of at least $30 billion), followed by U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and BB&T. For two years Woodforest National Bank (Texas) ranked first among the mid-sized institutions (assets $2 billion-$30 billion), but Intrust Bank (Kan.) unseats Woodforest in 2010, relegating Woodforest to the second position. Amarillo National Bank (Texas), Westamerica Bank (Calif.) and Iberiabank (La.) round out the top five, with Iberiabank reaching the top 10 for the first time.

The BBVI is a quantitative ranking of the brand strength of all U.S. banks, thrifts and credit unions. The index ranks financial institution brands by the premium they add to each institution's underlying tangible value.

In calculating brand value, Bancography quantifies the proportion of each institution's long-term value that is attributable to the intangible factors that constitute an institution's brand. These factors include the institution's...