First Busey Corporation BUSE

Competitive advantage analysis · financial-services

Bank Specialized
Overall moat score
45/100
Developing

Ranked against 399 peers in Banks - Regional

About First Busey Corporation

First Busey Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Busey Bank that engages in the provision of retail and commercial banking products and services to individual, corporate, institutional, and governmental customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and FirsTech. The company offers demand and savings deposits, money transfers, safe deposit services, individual retirement … Full BUSE analysis →

Key strengths

  • Strong Capital Position Capital position is strong (score 0.78), exceeding regulatory minimums.

Key risks

  • Weak Deposit Franchise Deposit franchise appears weak (profitability score 0.28).
  • Weak Net Interest Margin Net interest margin proxy is weak (score 0.29).

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

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Deposit Franchise

Developing
47
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Signals, strengths and risks for Deposit Franchise

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Signals, strengths and risks for Lending Advantage

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Signals, strengths and risks for Capital Strength

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Signals, strengths and risks for Cost Discipline

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Signals, strengths and risks for Revenue Diversification

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Signals, strengths and risks for Risk Management

Where BUSE ranks in Banks - Regional

First Busey Corporation ranks #235 of 393 scored companies in Banks - Regional by moat score — the top 60%. The widest moat in the group is 1st Source Corporation (SRCE) at 86/100.

# Company Moat score Rating
231 TFS Financial Corporation TFSL 46/100 Developing
232 Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of L HFBL 46/100 Developing
233 Glacier Bancorp, Inc. GBCI 45/100 Developing
234 Princeton Bancorp, Inc. BPRN 45/100 Developing
235 First Busey Corporation BUSE 45/100 Developing
236 Towne Bank TOWN 45/100 Developing
237 Columbia Banking System, Inc. COLB 45/100 Developing
238 Old Second Bancorp, Inc. OSBC 45/100 Developing
239 First National Corporation FXNC 45/100 Developing

See every Banks & Lenders company ranked by moat score →

How BUSE scores on the Bank Specialized defenses

Deposit Franchise

Score 47 · 22% of the moat score

A deposit franchise is the cheapest and most valuable thing a bank can own.

Lending Advantage

Score 36 · 18% of the moat score

Lending advantage is the ability to originate loans at attractive spreads without buying that volume with looser credit standards.

Capital Strength

Score 57 · 20% of the moat score

Capital is the buffer between loan losses and insolvency, and it is what regulators judge a bank on first.

Cost Discipline

Score 32 · 16% of the moat score

Banking carries high fixed costs in branches, compliance and technology, so what it costs to run the bank relative to what the bank earns is a genuine competitive variable.

Revenue Diversification

Score 57 · 14% of the moat score

A bank earning everything from net interest income is a leveraged bet on the rate cycle.

Risk Management

Score 39 · 10% of the moat score

Risk management is the defense that only reveals itself late.

How each Bank Specialized defense is measured, in full →

Understanding BUSE's moat

What is First Busey Corporation's moat score?

First Busey Corporation (BUSE) scores 45 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #235 of 393 scored companies in Banks - Regional, the top 60%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 399 companies in Banks - Regional. Its strongest defense is Capital Strength (57/100) and its weakest is Cost Discipline (32/100).

How does First Busey Corporation compare with other Banks - Regional companies?

First Busey Corporation ranks #235 of 393 scored companies in Banks - Regional by moat score. The widest moat in Banks - Regional is 1st Source Corporation (SRCE) at 86/100. The companies ranked closest are Princeton Bancorp, Inc. (BPRN) at 45 just above it and Towne Bank (TOWN) at 45 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Bank Specialized in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 399 companies in Banks - Regional. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is First Busey Corporation scored with the Bank Specialized template?

A bank does not sell a product at a margin. It funds itself, lends at a spread, and books profits that remain an estimate until the loans are actually repaid. That makes the usual margin-and-return questions misleading, so the Bank template scores what really determines a bank's durability: where its funding comes from, what it lends against, how much capital stands behind it, and whether it has been pricing risk honestly.

Which competitive defenses are measured for First Busey Corporation?

The Bank Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and BUSE scores: Deposit Franchise (47), Lending Advantage (36), Capital Strength (57), Cost Discipline (32), Revenue Diversification (57), Risk Management (39). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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