U.S. Bancorp was recently named as the top performing large bank in the country, according to Bank Director's 2006 Bank Performance Scorecard. The large-bank ranking included 25 banks and thrifts with total assets of $50 billion or more and was based on publicly available data over four linked quarters ? the third and fourth quarters of 2005 and the first and second quarters of 2006.

Bank Director's fourth quarter 2006 edition noted that U.S. Bancorp ?benefited from a substantial payments systems operation and ranked first and fifth in the ROAA and ROAE categories, respectively?a truly impressive performance for such a large institution.?

Bank Director magazine used six categories to measure the performance of 150 banks (25 of which qualified as ?large banks?) in the United States, including return on average assets, return on average equity, tier-1 capital ratio, leverage ratio, nonperforming asset ratio and reserve coverage. U.S. Bancorp also ranked 9th among all of the 150 banks ranked by the publication, which included banks and thrifts with total assets ranging from slightly more than $3 billion up to those with more than $1.5 trillion.

This is U.S. Bancorp's second consecutive year of being recognized as the top performing large bank by Bank Director magazine. Also, in the ranking of the top 150 banks and thrifts, U.S. Bancorp jumped eight places from 17th in 2005 to this year's 2006 ranking of 9th overall.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), with $217 billion in assets, is the 6th largest financial holding company in the United States. The company operates 2,467 banking offices and 4,943 ATMs in 24 states, and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. U.S. Bancorp is the parent company of U.S. Bank. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at www.usbank.com.