Lake City Bank, the single bank subsidiary of Lakeland Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:LKFN), announced today that the bank was included in the KBW Bank Honor Roll published by Keefe Bruyette and Woods (KBW). This represents the third consecutive year that the bank has been included in the KBW Honor Roll.

Lake City Bank is one of 31 banking institutions with a 10-year record that met KBW’s criteria for inclusion in the 2013 Bank Honor Roll; the bank is also one of 27 members returning to the list.

To qualify for the honor roll, banks with more than $500 million in total assets must have:

• No annual loss reported in net income per share before extraordinary items over the past 10 years;
• 2013 annual reported net income per share before extraordinary items equal to or greater than peak net income per share over the past 10 years; and
• Consecutive increases in net income per share before extraordinary items since 2009.

“We are extremely gratified to be included in this exclusive list that reflects consistent high performance for more than a decade,” said David M. Findlay, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We work hard to balance the community banking spirit we have with the expectations of our shareholders, and inclusion on the KBW Honor Roll demonstrates that we’ve been pretty successful in serving clients and providing a strong return for our shareholders.”

“KBW Bank Honor Roll members significantly outperformed their banking peers for the five-year period between 2008 and 2013. While 2014 thus far has proved to be challenging for overall equity market performance, the honor roll members continue to outperform,” KBW reported when announcing 2013 honor roll members.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF), 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.