About the Banking Conditions Survey

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas conducts the Banking Conditions Survey twice each quarter to obtain a timely assessment of activity at banks and credit unions headquartered in the Eleventh Federal Reserve District. CEOs or senior loan officers of financial institutions report on how conditions have changed over the past six weeks for indicators such as loan volume, nonperforming loans and loan pricing. Respondents are also asked to report on their banking outlook and their evaluation of general business activity. Participants are given the opportunity to submit comments on current issues that may be affecting their business.

Survey responses are used to calculate an index for each indicator. Each index is calculated by subtracting the percentage of respondents reporting a decrease (or tightening) from the percentage reporting an increase (or easing). When the share of respondents reporting an increase exceeds the share reporting a decrease, the index will be greater than zero, suggesting the indicator has increased over the prior reporting period. If the share of respondents reporting a decrease exceeds the share reporting an increase, the index will be below zero, suggesting the indicator has decreased over the prior reporting period. An index will be zero when the number of respondents reporting an increase is equal to the number reporting a decrease.

The Banking Conditions Survey serves a dual function: It provides supplemental information for the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book and supplies timely information on banking conditions in preparation for monetary policy deliberations before the eight Federal Open Market Committee meetings each year. About 60 financial institutions regularly participate in the survey, which began collecting data in 2017.