The 10 Best Banks of 2016

National banks are still struggling to shed their collective image as fee-heavy, profit-hungry machines. Despite this reputation, however, national brick-and-mortar banks offer numerous products and services that consumers are still happy to use.

Ubiquitous branches and ATMs, interest-bearing accounts and state-of-the-art technology make the larger, commercial bank the right fit for consumers who need their bank to be everywhere – and who need digital banking services or a wide range of insurance and loan options that many smaller, community financial institutions don't offer. 

With so many product and service factors to consider, choosing the right bank with the right blend of amenities to fulfill your needs can be a challenge. Moreover, you want to make sure you're choosing a bank that offers competitive interest rates. 

Personal finance website GOBankingRates.com conducted its annual Best Banks study to help you narrow your search. The study assessed the top 90 financial institutions based on asset size according to the FDIC. Check out the top 10 banks to see what they have to offer.

Best Bank: Wells Fargo 

Although it doesn't have the highest number of ATMs, Wells Fargo does have the most U.S. branches of any national brick-and-mortar bank on this list – 6,200. It also has other advantages that make it the best bank of 2016. Wells Fargo's array of deposit products, loan and investment service options, and smartphone banking capabilities are hard to match, and it has a BauerFinancial rating of four. 

Bank of America

Although its $12 checking account fee is one of the highest on this top 10 list, Bank of America offers a high level of convenience. With more than 16,100 ATMs scattered across the country, customers have the accessibility they need to deposit or withdraw on the go. 

Chase

Like Bank of America, Chase's $12 checking account fee is high compared with other banks on this list, but the bank offers a broad range of products that result in convenient banking options. Accessibility through its 5,300 branches and 15,500 ATMs is a major feature for Chase because, although its savings rate of 0.01 percent APY is similar to many banks on this list, its 0.02 percent APY CD rate is one of the lowest on this list.
        

Citibank

Citibank offers customers a thorough product list, including several credit card choices, from secured and student cards, to rewards, business and travel credit cards. It also offers several investment options for wealth building. It has one of the highest checking fees on this list ($12) but also one of the highest CD rates (0.15 percent APY).
        

First Midwest Bank

First Midwest Bank is the other financial institution on this list with no checking account fee. Although its branch locations are limited to Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, the bank offers access to more than 50,000 ATMs nationwide through its Allpoint network.
  

First Niagara Bank

First Niagara Bank offers the highest 12-month CD rate of the Best Banks of 2016: 0.50 percent APY on a $500 minimum opening balance. It also offers the highest savings account rate of any bank on this list at 0.10 percent APY. The bank has nearly 400 branches across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.
        

Great Western Bank

Great Western Bank is one of only two financial institutions in this top 10 with no checking fee. It also boasts a 0.15 percent APY CD; a full range of deposit account products as well as loan, investment and insurance services; and a BauerFinancial rating of five. However, its 158 branches are located in the West and Midwest only.
         

HSBC Bank

If a basic, no-frills checking account is what you want, HSBC is a top choice. Its Basic Banking account carries a fee of just $3. Consumers looking for more features might want to opt for the bank's Choice, Advance or Premier Checking products, which offer additional credit card and relationship savings account options.
        

PNC Bank

PNC Bank offers a full range of banking and finance products and services, including brokerage accounts, stocks and bonds, education accounts and insurance. It also has the second-highest savings account rate on this list – 0.05 percent APY – if you have a PNC checking account. The checking account has a $7 monthly fee.
        

U.S. Bank

U.S. Bank has a higher-than-average 12-month CD rate (0.10 percent APY) and a slightly lower checking fee ($6.95) than many of its competitors. It also offers a range of deposit services, credit cards and mortgage and auto loans. 

All the top 10 banks of 2016 received a BauerFinancial rating of at least 4 out of 5. Although their deposit account rates are about average, or in some cases lower, compared with what some smaller financial institutions and online-only banks can offer, these national brick-and-mortar banks offer a significant range of banking products, digital money management capabilities, widespread branch and ATM access, and loans and investing services that smaller and online institutions cannot.

Best Online MBA Programs 2016

Rank	School	Business School Name	Based In
1	Carnegie Mellon University	Tepper School of Business	Pittsburgh, PA
2	Indiana University	Kelley School of Business	Bloomington, IN
3	Arizona State University	W.P. Carey School of Business	Tempe, AZ
4	University of Florida	Hough Graduate School of Business	Gainesville, FL
5	University of Wisconsin - Madison	School of Business	Madison, WI
6	North Carolina State University	Jenkins Graduate School of Management	Raleigh, NC
7	Temple University	Fox School of Business	Philadelphia, PA
8	Pennsylvania State University	Smeal College of Business	College, PA
9	University of Virginia	Darden School of Business	Charlottesville, VA
10	University of Maryland	Robert H Smith School of Business	College Park, MD
11	University of Arizona	Eller College of Management	Tucson, AZ
12	Northeastern University	D'Amore-McKim School of Business	Boston, MA
13	George Washington University	School of Business	Washington, D.C.
14	Syracuse University	Whitman School of Management	Syracuse, NY
15	Ball State University	Miller College of Business	Muncie, IN
16	Mississippi State University	College of Business	Mississippi State, MS
17	University of North Dakota	Business and Public Administration	Grand Forks, ND
18	University of North Texas	UNT College of Business	Denton, TX
19	University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire	College of Business	Eau Claire, WI
20	University of Mississippi	Business School	University, MS
21	University of Tennessee - ​Martin	College of Business and Global Affairs	Martin, TN
22	Fayetteville State University	School of Business	Fayetteville, NC
23	Georgia Southern University	College of Business Administration	Statesboro, GA
24	Oklahoma State University	Spears School of Business	Stillwater, OK
25	University of Louisiana - Monroe	College of Business & Social Sciences	Monroe, LA

Big banks earnings falter

Two of the larger US banks reported first quarter earnings. The results were more inline with analysts outlook for large banks.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo both missed on the profit side due to lacklust growth overall in the US economy.

BofA said its first-quarter profit fell, hurt by a big drop in trading revenue and the drag of low interest rates.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank reported a profit of $2.68 billion, or 21 cents a share. That compares with $3.1 billion, or 25 cents a share, in the same period last year. Analysts expectations were for earnings of 20 cents a share.

Revenue fell to $19.7 billion. Shares of BofA are down 17 percent so far this year.

Bank of America Chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan, CEO is hoping that this year will represent a new chapter for the bank, which has been dogged by legal fees and problems with the Federal Reserve’s annual test of banks’ financial health, known as the stress test.

Wells Fargo & Co. said its first-quarter profit fell 5.9 percent as the nation’s third-largest bank by assets continued to deal with a slump in oil prices.

The San Francisco-based bank reported a profit of $5.46 billion, or 99 cents a share. That compares with $5.8 billion, or $1.04 a share, in the same period of 2015. The latest results included a tax benefit of 7 cents a share.

Analysts expectations were for earnings of 97 cents a share.

Revenue rose 4.3 percent to $22.2 billion. Analysts had expected $21.61 billion.

Wells Fargo shares have fallen 9.8 percent since the start of 2016, in line with the decline in the KBW Nasdaq Bank index of large commercial lenders over the same period.

Low oil prices have punished many energy companies and pushed them into distress, developments that affect Wells Fargo more than other large banks since it is one of the most sizable lenders to the industry.

Microsoft sues US government over secret data requests

Microsoft has sued the US government for the right to tell its customers when a federal agency is looking at their emails, the latest in a series of clashes over privacy between the technology industry and Washington.

The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in federal court in the Western District of Washington, argues that the government is violating the US Constitution by preventing Microsoft from notifying thousands of customers about government requests for their emails and other documents.

The government’s actions contravene the Fourth Amendment, which establishes the right for people and businesses to know if the government searches or seizes their property, the suit argues, and the First Amendment right to free speech.

Microsoft’s suit focuses on the storage of data on remote servers, rather than locally on people’s computers, which Microsoft says has provided a new opening for the government to access electronic data.

Using the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the government is increasingly directing investigations at the parties that store data in the so-called cloud, Microsoft says. The 30-year-old law has long drawn scrutiny from technology companies and privacy advocates who say it was written before the rise of the commercial Internet and is therefore outdated.

“People do not give up their rights when they move their private information from physical storage to the cloud,” Microsoft says in the lawsuit, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. It adds that the government “has exploited the transition to cloud computing as a means of expanding its power to conduct secret investigations.”

The lawsuit represents the newest front in the battle between technology companies and the US government over how much private businesses should assist government surveillance.

By filing the suit, Microsoft is taking a more prominent role in that battle, dominated by Apple in recent months due to the government’s efforts to get the company to write software to unlock an iPhone used by one of the shooters in a December massacre in San Bernardino, Calif. Apple, backed by big technology companies including Microsoft, had complained that cooperating would turn businesses into arms of the state.

In its complaint, Microsoft says over the past 18 months it has received 5,624 legal orders under the ECPA, of which 2,576 prevented Microsoft from disclosing that the government is seeking customer data through warrants, subpoenas and other requests. Most of the ECPA requests apply to individuals, not companies, and provide no fixed end date to the secrecy provision, Microsoft said.

Microsoft and other companies won the right two years ago to disclose the number of government demands for data they receive. This case goes farther, requesting that it be allowed to notify individual businesses and people that the government is seeking information about them.

Verizon, SoftBank go head-to-head for control of Yahoo

Two ex-Googlers are upping the ante in a high stakes game of brinkmanship to take control of Yahoo.

In one corner is Tim Armstrong, once Google’s head of ad sales and now running Verizon’s AOL unit. In the other is Nikesh Arora, the president of Japan’s SoftBank and Google’s former chief business officer.

And in the middle is fellow Google alumna and Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer, who is fighting to keep her job.

Verizon is considered the front-runner and appears to have backing from key investors who have been battered by months of management zigzagging and like the idea of a simple cash deal.

Armstrong is also said to be offering Mayer a graceful exit and is willing to deal with the messy business of Yahoo mass firings.

While Verizon has made it clear it wants Yahoo’s “core” Web business, Armstrong is also interested in Yahoo’s 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, currently valued at $8 billion.

Still, “I don’t think Tim has the support for a very high bid,” said one source.

Meanwhile, SoftBank’s Arora is eyeing an acquisition of the whole of Yahoo, sources said, and has been hanging back to see what Verizon’s offer is before he makes a move, sources said.

Yahoo has set a deadline of April 18 for submitting preliminary bids for the Web business. The company also owns two lucrative Asian assets, a 15 percent stake in China’s Alibaba and a 35 percent stake in Yahoo Japan.

Several sources say they believe that, while there will be many bidders, the only real competition is between Verizon and SoftBank.

Softbank didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment. Verizon declined to comment.

Yahoo and SoftBank are already intertwined through their ownership of Yahoo Japan. SoftBank is the majority owner, with a 43 percent stake.

The tangled ownership structure also comes with some strings that complicate the sale of Yahoo. SoftBank pays $150 million to Yahoo for search services under a contract that expires next year.

There is also the 3 percent royalty SoftBank pays for using the Yahoo Japan brand name. It hit $90 million in 2015 — triple what it was in 2004. The long-term projected value of that contract is $2 billion, a source close to the process said.

“SoftBank wants to fix this,” the source said, meaning Arora wants to end this agreement.

One way for SoftBank to untangle Yahoo Japan is to buy all of Yahoo through a more tax friendly deal.

Under one scenario, SoftBank could create a new combined entity by having Yahoo Japan issue new shares to Yahoo’s existing investors, according to one source.

“SoftBank is the only realistic buyer to maintain Yahoo’s profitability,” said the source.