The economic performance of small banks, 1985-2000

Several trends in the financial industry over the past decade and a half have potentially threatened the competitiveness of small banks. Among these developments are the numerous mergers that increased the size and scope of large banks and the increased competition from mutual funds and other nonbank financial institutions. This article examines the economic performance of small banks during the 1985-2000 period by focusing on their ability to attract and profitably intermediate insured and uninsured deposits. It finds that the expansion of deposits and assets at small banks, when adjusted to account for the effects of mergers on measured growth, has consistently exceeded the growth at large banks. Moreover, the profitability of small banks has risen to high levels over the period. These indications of strength among small banks as a whole also hold true for subgroups within the small bank sector. Aside from their success in attracting deposits, the key reasons for the generally good performance of small banks in recent years appear to be their ability to earn relatively high rates of return on their loans and an increase in the share of their portfolios devoted to loans.Bank mergers ; Bank size

Profits and balance sheet developments at U.S. commercial banks in 2001

Despite the economic slowdown, the profitability of the U.S. commercial banking industry remained high in 2001. Although the weak economy contributed to a sharp rise in provisions for loan and lease losses, those losses were offset in large part by an advance in realized gains on investment account securities as banks' portfolios benefited from declining short- and intermediate-term market interest rates. Profits were also supported by reductions in noninterest expense, as large merger-related charges in 2000 were not repeated last year. Lower short-term interest rates also spurred a rapid increase in core deposits, which provided banks with plentiful, low-interest-rate funding. The expansion of bank balance sheets was slower in 2001 than in the preceding year, as weaker economic activity held down growth in loans to businesses. Loans to households advanced relatively rapidly, though at a somewhat slower pace than in 2000. An increase in the share of banks' portfolios consisting of mortgage-backed securities issued by government agencies, which have lower risk weights than loans, together with continued strong earnings, contributed to an increase in risk-based capital ratios.Banks and banking ; Bank profits ; Bank assets

Profits and balance sheet developments at U.S. commercial banks in 2000

The profitability of the U.S. commercial banking industry remained robust in 2000, but returns on equity and on commercial bank assets fell back somewhat from the peak reached in 1999. The falloff reflected a continuation of the decline in net interest margin that dates from the extraordinarily high levels of the early 1990s, a significant increase in loan-loss provisions, and a notable slowing in noninterest income growth. The expansion of bank balance sheets was much stronger in 2000 than in the preceding year, as growth of both loans and securities accelerated. The pickup in loan growth resulted mainly from a marked decline in securitizations, which boosted the growth of consumer loans in bank portfolios, and from business and real estate lending. The faster growth of securities was due to a surge in trading accounts, as runoffs of U.S. Treasury securities damped the growth of investment accounts.Banks and banking ; Bank profits ; Bank assets

Recent developments in business lending by commercial banks

After growing rapidly during much of the 1990s, the real value of commercial and industrial (C&I) loans at domestic commercial banks and at U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks has fallen 19 percent since the beginning of 2001. The recent contraction in business loans has been concentrated at large banking institutions and appears to stem from the combined effects of weak demand for credit and a tightening of lending standards and terms. The move toward a more-stringent lending posture, although partly cyclical, also reflects a reassessment of the risks and returns of C&I lending. This reassessment, in turn, is due partly to structural changes in the market, including the increased participation of nonbank financial institutions, the growth of the secondary loan market, and the greater use of credit derivatives by some banks.Commercial loans ; Bank loans

Profits and balance sheet developments at U.S. commercial banks in 2007

Reviews recent developments in the balance sheets and in the profitability of U.S. commercial banks. The article discusses how developments in the U.S. banking industry in 2007 and early 2008 were related to changes in financial markets and in the broader economy.Banks and banking - United States ; Bank profits

The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

This paper describes the Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), marking the completion of the original goals of the SDSS and the end of the phase known as SDSS-II. It includes 11663 deg^2 of imaging data, with most of the roughly 2000 deg^2 increment over the previous data release lying in regions of low Galactic latitude. The catalog contains five-band photometry for 357 million distinct objects. The survey also includes repeat photometry over 250 deg^2 along the Celestial Equator in the Southern Galactic Cap. A coaddition of these data goes roughly two magnitudes fainter than the main survey. The spectroscopy is now complete over a contiguous area of 7500 deg^2 in the Northern Galactic Cap, closing the gap that was present in previous data releases. There are over 1.6 million spectra in total, including 930,000 galaxies, 120,000 quasars, and 460,000 stars. The data release includes improved stellar photometry at low Galactic latitude. The astrometry has all been recalibrated with the second version of the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC-2), reducing the rms statistical errors at the bright end to 45 milli-arcseconds per coordinate. A systematic error in bright galaxy photometr is less severe than previously reported for the majority of galaxies. Finally, we describe a series of improvements to the spectroscopic reductions, including better flat-fielding and improved wavelength calibration at the blue end, better processing of objects with extremely strong narrow emission lines, and an improved determination of stellar metallicities. (Abridged)Comment: 20 pages, 10 embedded figures. Accepted to ApJS after minor correction