Fulton Bank has widened its lead as the largest bank here, new federal statistics show.

Lancaster-based Fulton has 21.30 percent of all bank deposits in the county, according to the report.

That's 3.37 points more than runner-up Susquehanna Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.

A year earlier, Fulton led Susquehanna by a mere 0.93 points.

That was the closest a rival has come to dethroning Fulton, the perpetual leader here, in at least 15 years.

But since then, Fulton added to its market share while Susquehanna lost share, creating the wider gap.

Fulton's Curtis Myers said the bank has seen growth in all four types of deposits — business, small business, nonprofits and consumers.

Myers credited the bank's reputation for safety and soundness, its competitive rates and the favorable experience it provides to customers.

"We've worked hard to create trust and earn the loyalty of our customers," said Myers, president and chief operating officer.

The new FDIC data, released last month, tallied deposits as of June 30 at the Lancaster County offices of 18 banks operating here.

Those banks have 205 local offices that hold more than $9 billion in deposits, about $250 million more than a year earlier.

Taking a closer look at the findings, Fulton retained the top spot by growing its market share from 20.00 percent a year earlier.

Fulton's market share here over the past 15 years has ranged from a low of 19.07 percent in 2004 to a high of 25.43 percent in 1998.

The year 1998 also saw Fulton's biggest edge here during that period — a 9.71 percent advantage over runner-up Bank of Lancaster County.

In 2009, Susquehanna held on to the second slot despite seeing its market share slip to 17.93 percent from 19.07 percent.

Moving up a notch to third place was Wachovia, as its share increased to 14.70 percent from 12.91 percent.

Sliding one position was Bank of Lancaster County successor PNC at 13.64 percent.

That was down from the 16.16 percent held by Bank of Lancaster County and PNC together a year earlier, when they merged.

Ephrata National kept fifth place, improving to 6.16 percent from 5.78 percent.

Union National stayed in sixth place, increasing to 4.70 percent from 4.23 percent.

Sovereign held on to seventh place, despite dipping to 3.92 percent from 4.05 percent.

Climbing to eighth place from ninth was HomeTowne Heritage, growing to 3.48 percent from 3.31 percent.

HomeTowne switched with Citizens, which dipped to 3.25 percent from 3.34 percent.

Rising to 10th from 11th place was Graystone Tower, with 2.71 percent, up from 2.26 percent.

tmekeel@lnpnews.com