About RSS Data Download

Summary

The H.8 release provides an estimated weekly aggregated balance sheet for all commercial banks in the United States. The release also includes separate balance sheet aggregations for four subsets of the commercial bank universe. Published weekly, the release is typically available to the public by 4:15 p.m. each Friday. If Friday is a federal holiday, then the data are released on Thursday. For more information on H.8 release dates, please see the Statistical Release Calendar.

The H.8 estimates are primarily based on the FR 2644 reporting form—reported weekly by a voluntary authorized panel of 850 domestically chartered banks and foreign-related institutions—and quarterly Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Reports ) for those commercial banks that are not included in the FR 2644 panel. Although the FR 2644 panel size fluctuates from week to week because of bank mergers and closures, as well as recruitments to and departures from the panel, reporting banks consistently represent around 90 percent of commercial bank assets in the U.S., making the weekly H.8 estimates highly accurate. The data collection is limited to domestic offices of commercial banks, offices located on U.S. military installations around the world, and foreign-related institutions in the U.S. International Banking Facilities (IBFs), as well as banks located in U.S. territories and possessions such as Puerto Rico and Guam, are considered foreign offices. The commercial bank universe covered by the H.8 release excludes thrifts such as state savings banks, federal saving banks, savings and loans associations, credit unions, and consumer finance companies.

H.8 release series are available for customizable download through the Federal Reserve Board’s Data Download Program (DDP) and through the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ FRED database.

Background

The Federal Reserve’s oldest data collection, Weekly Report of Selected Assets and Liabilities of Domestically Chartered Commercial Banks and U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks, originated in response to the needs of World War I. H.8 aggregates generated from these data provide a unique high-frequency source of information on banking developments, which are used for monetary policy purposes and for understanding the behavior of the banking sector and its role in the macroeconomy. The Federal Reserve monitors aggregated balance sheet data to track credit and funding conditions. Materials based on these aggregates are regularly used for analysis by the Federal Reserve and by the public. In addition, other federal agencies, academics, and economic and financial analysts routinely use the H.8 data as part of their research.

For more information about the history and historical significance of this data collection, please see the FEDS Note, The 104th Anniversary of the Federal Reserve’s Oldest Data Collection.

Bank subsets

In addition to commercial bank aggregations, the H.8 release includes separate balance sheet aggregations for four subsets of commercial banks: domestically chartered commercial banks; large domestically chartered commercial banks; small domestically chartered commercial banks; and foreign-related institutions in the United States.

Large domestically chartered commercial banks are defined as the largest 25 domestically chartered commercial banks ranked by domestic asset size based on the commercial bank Call Reports to which the H.8 release data had been most recently benchmarked. For more information about the benchmarking process, see the H.8 Technical Q&A page. The 25 banks on the large bank panel are only reassessed at each benchmark. However, if two large banks merge or if a large bank leaves the commercial bank universe, then the top 25 banks are replenished immediately with the bank next in line, normally the bank ranked number 26.

Small domestically chartered commercial banks are defined as all domestically chartered banks outside of the largest 25 banks. Foreign-related institutions include U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks as well as Edge Act and agreement corporations. Until October 1996, New York investment companies were also included in foreign-related institutions.

To maintain the historical continuity of the data within each subset of banks, the past data for large and small domestically chartered banks are adjusted to remove the estimated effects of mergers and panel shifts between the two bank subsets. Past levels are adjusted proportionally based on a ratio calculated at the time of the panel shift or merger. Estimated balances are removed from past data for the subset of banks that gave up the assets and added to past data for the bank subset that acquired those assets. This procedure is designed to make past levels comparable with current levels. For more information about this procedure, please see the H.8 Technical Q&A page.

Levels and percent changes

The H.8 release contains weekly and monthly average levels, as well as monthly, quarterly, and annual percent changes, with all percent changes at annualized rates. Weekly levels represent estimated aggregates for selected bank asset and liability items as of close-of-business Wednesday. Monthly levels are pro rata averages of weekly data. For an example of a monthly average level calculation, please see the H.8 Technical Q&A page. Quarterly levels are calculated as the averages of the three monthly levels in each quarter, rounded to the nearest $100 million.

Annualized percent changes shown on page 1 of the release are calculated from either monthly or quarterly levels. Percent changes for series that may have negative levels (for example, net due to related foreign offices) have been excluded from publication. All percent changes have been adjusted to remove the effects of nonbank structure activity of $5 billion or more, as well as the effects of accounting rule changes, such as the initial consolidation of off-balance-sheet vehicles (FAS 166/167) and the adoption of the Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) standard (ASU 2016-13). These adjustments use a ratio procedure like that used to account for panel shifts, designed to make past levels comparable with current levels. Figures reported in the H.8 Notes on the Data are generally used to make these adjustments. For a complete list of accounting rule changes, please see the Notes on the Data. For more information about this procedure, please see the H.8 Technical Q&A page.

Seasonally adjusted data

For all bank subsets, seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted data are provided for each balance sheet item published on the H.8 release. The seasonal factors used to adjust the levels are estimated directly for all commercial banks, domestically chartered banks, and large domestically chartered banks. Seasonally adjusted data for small domestically chartered banks and for foreign-related institutions are derived as residuals from those data. This methodology may occasionally result in negative seasonally adjusted levels for some balance sheet items of small domestically chartered banks and of foreign-related institutions in earlier years. Seasonal factors are updated once per year. Please see the H.8 Technical Q&A page for more information on the seasonal adjustment procedure.

FR 2644 reporting form

The reporting form and instructions for the FR 2644 collection provide definitions for the bank asset and liability items on the H.8 release. The instructions also show the relationship of FR 2644 items to items on the quarterly Call Reports. Series documentation may also be found in the Micro Data Reference Manual (MDRM).

Individual respondent micro data collected by the FR 2644 are confidential. This information collection is subject to renewal and public comment every three years, at minimum, as required by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB No. 7100-0075).

Back to Top