West Bancorporation Inc. continues to be a darling of investment banking firm Sandler O’Neill + Partners LP, and it’s all about performance. The West Des Moines-based parent of West Bank has been included for the fourth consecutive year as a Sandler O’Neill Sma-All Star, a compilation of the top-performing public banks with a market capitalization of $25 million to $2.5 billion. The firm examined 435 banks and named 34 to its list of all stars. West Bancorporation was the only bank in Iowa named to the list. West Bancorporation President and CEO Dave Nelson also pointed out in a release that no other banking operation has made the list for four consecutive years. The evaluation is based on growth, profitability, credit quality and capital strength for the  year ended June 30. Also of note is that West Bancorporation’s return on average equity over the period ranked second among the 34 banks at 15.2 percent and was well above the 10 percent average for the all-stars and the 8 percent average for all banks that were evaluated. West Bank had assets of $1.6 billion and a market capitalization of $307 million at the end of the one-year period.