Banking Conditions Survey
Special questions
Special Questions
November 2026
For this survey, respondents were asked supplemental questions about outlook concerns, core deposits, lending standards, and restrictions on AI agentic activity. Data were collected October 27–November 4, and 70 bankers responded to the survey.
1. What are the top three concerns around your institution’s outlook over the next six months, if any? Please rank in order of importance.
| May '25 | Aug. '25 | Nov. '25 | Feb.'26 | May '26 | Aug. '26 | Nov. '26 | ||||
| Total (percent) |
Total (percent) |
Total (percent) |
Total (percent) |
Total (percent) |
Total (percent) |
Total (percent) |
Rank 1 (percent) |
Rank 2 (percent) |
Rank 3 (percent) |
|
| Financial/economic uncertainty | 64.2 | 57.1 | 44.8 | 35.6 | 46.6 | 45.2 | 47.1 | 21.4 | 14.5 | 11.6 |
| Cybersecurity | 31.3 | 34.3 | 29.9 | 28.8 | 39.7 | 37.1 | 44.3 | 12.9 | 23.2 | 8.7 |
| Fraud | 29.9 | 32.2 | 55.2 | 50.0 | 41.4 | 14.3 | 14.5 | 13.0 | ||
| Liquidity/deposit volume | 29.9 | 34.3 | 29.9 | 28.8 | 39.7 | 37.1 | 35.7 | 17.1 | 13.0 | 5.8 |
| Net interest margin | 22.4 | 28.6 | 34.3 | 25.4 | 19.0 | 25.8 | 24.3 | 12.9 | 2.9 | 8.7 |
| Competition for loans | 23.9 | 24.3 | 17.9 | 27.1 | 12.1 | 17.7 | 15.7 | 1.4 | 5.8 | 8.7 |
| Loan demand | 29.9 | 25.7 | 25.4 | 32.2 | 20.7 | 21.0 | 14.3 | 4.3 | 7.2 | 2.9 |
| Noncurrent loans | 19.4 | 7.1 | 14.9 | 10.2 | 6.9 | 6.5 | 14.3 | 5.7 | 2.9 | 5.8 |
| Regulatory burden | 25.4 | 22.9 | 17.9 | 15.3 | 10.3 | 6.5 | 14.3 | 0.0 | 4.3 | 10.1 |
| Overall profitability | 19.4 | 15.7 | 14.9 | 15.3 | 12.1 | 9.7 | 11.4 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 10.1 |
| Difficulty hiring and/or retaining employees | 9.0 | 20.0 | 16.4 | 22.0 | 19.0 | 16.1 | 11.4 | 5.7 | 4.3 | 1.4 |
| Stablecoins/cryptocurrency | 11.4 | 9.0 | 13.6 | 6.9 | 14.5 | 8.6 | 0.0 | 2.9 | 5.8 | |
| Unrealized losses on securities portfolio | 6.0 | 4.3 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 7.1 | 1.4 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Commercial real estate risks | 6.0 | 11.4 | 7.5 | 5.1 | 3.4 | 6.5 | 4.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.3 |
| Other | 11.9 | 2.9 | 6.0 | 6.8 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 0.0 |
| Climate/drought | 1.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||||
NOTE: 70 responses.
2. Over the past six weeks, how has your volume of core deposits changed?
| Jun. '24 (percent) |
Oct. '24 (percent) |
Apr. '25 (percent) |
Sep. '25 (percent) |
Feb. '26 (percent) |
Aug. '26 (percent) |
Nov. '26 (percent) |
|
| Increased significantly | 2.7 | 4.1 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
| Increased slightly | 42.5 | 50.0 | 49.2 | 57.6 | 54.2 | 56.5 | 51.4 |
| No change | 28.8 | 32.4 | 27.0 | 22.7 | 20.3 | 21.0 | 30.0 |
| Decreased slightly | 26.0 | 10.8 | 20.6 | 18.2 | 20.3 | 19.4 | 15.7 |
| Decreased significantly | 0.0 | 2.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
NOTE: 70 responses.
3. Over the next six weeks, how do you expect your volume of core deposits to change?
| Jun. '24 (percent) |
Oct. '24 (percent) |
Apr. '25 (percent) |
Sep. '25 (percent) |
Feb. '26 (percent) |
Aug. '26 (percent) |
Nov. '26 (percent) |
|
| Increase significantly | 0.0 | 1.3 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 3.3 | 4.3 |
| Increase slightly | 47.2 | 54.7 | 43.5 | 58.2 | 56.9 | 52.5 | 54.3 |
| No change | 36.1 | 30.7 | 37.1 | 28.4 | 22.4 | 32.8 | 35.7 |
| Decrease slightly | 16.7 | 13.3 | 16.1 | 11.9 | 17.2 | 11.5 | 5.7 |
| Decrease significantly | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
NOTE: 70 responses.
4. Have you or your service provider taken any action to restrict existing or prospective customers’ AI agent activity on the online banking platform?
| Nov. '26 (percent) |
|
| No | 38.6 |
| No, but plan to do so in the next 6 months | 22.9 |
| Yes | 11.4 |
| Don’t know | 27.1 |
NOTE: 70 responses.
5. To understand the current level of lending standards, consider the range of your institution’s lending standards (easiest to tightest) from 2015 to the present. Using this range, how would you describe your institution’s current level of lending standards for the following loan categories?
| Near easiest level (percent) |
Significantly easier than midpoint (percent) |
Somewhat easier than midpoint (percent) |
Near midpoint (percent) |
Somewhat tighter than midpoint (percent) |
Significantly tighter than midpoint (percent) |
Near tightest level (percent) |
|
| Commercial and industrial | 0.0 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 47.5 | 35.6 | 11.9 | 1.7 |
| Commercial real estate | 0.0 | 3.4 | 5.1 | 33.9 | 50.8 | 5.1 | 1.7 |
| Residential real estate | 0.0 | 1.6 | 6.5 | 62.9 | 21.0 | 8.1 | 0.0 |
| Consumer | 1.5 | 0.0 | 12.1 | 54.5 | 27.3 | 4.5 | 0.0 |
| Overall | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.2 | 52.3 | 38.5 | 3.1 | 0.0 |
NOTES: 67 responses. This question was most recently posed in Aug. '26. For the commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, residential real estate and consumer categories, the number of respondents that selected “Not applicable” is 6, 6, 2 and 1, respectively. Percent calculations excluded “Not applicable” respondents.
Special Questions Comments
Survey participants are given the opportunity to submit comments. Some comments have been edited for grammar and clarity.
- [The] uncertainty of rising rates is a significant headwind. Federal budget deficits and supply-constrained rising energy costs are concerning.
- U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)-guaranteed lending permits the Bank to prudently accept certain exceptions to its conventional commercial and industrial underwriting parameters because the guaranty provides meaningful loss protection. However, the underlying credit must still demonstrate a reasonable ability to repay, the exceptions must be identified and appropriately mitigated, and the loan must comply with SBA requirements necessary to preserve the guaranty.
Questions regarding the Banking Conditions Survey can be addressed to Mariam Yousuf at mariam.yousuf@dal.frb.org.
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