Loan Officer Survey

The Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS) tracks bank lending views in the United States. The Federal Reserve Board, the United States central bank, runs it quarterly, and it has run since 1964.

It polls senior loan officers at up to 80 large domestic banks plus up to 24 United States branches and agencies of foreign banks. As of March 31, 2023, the panel held 73 domestic banks and 21 foreign offices, including 37 banks with assets of $50B or more. Participation is voluntary, and answers report opinions on change over the past 3 months, not loan volumes, small banks, strictness levels or foreign markets.

Surveys are typically conducted at the end of each quarter and ask about change over the past 3 months. Standard quarterly releases come generally on the first Monday following FOMC meetings for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Each release holds a national summary memo plus Table 1 for domestic banks and Table 2 for foreign branches. It adds charts with data tables and aggregate series from 1997 onward. The publisher states no revision policy, so each release stands as final, with up to 6 surveys per year when special topics are added.

Positive net percentages, tightening minus easing shares, mean tightening or stronger demand on balance, while negative shares mean easing or weaker demand. The survey serves opinion-based policy monitoring only.

Results shift with standards, terms and demand across loan types, plus special topics each survey.

• C&I loans, business loans: standards, terms and demand split by firm sales above or below $50M and bank assets above or below $50B.
• CRE loans, business property loans: standards and demand for construction, nonfarm nonresidential and multifamily loans.
• RRE loans, new home mortgages: standards and demand for new originations by mortgage type, plus home-equity lines.
• Consumer loans: standards, terms and demand for credit cards, auto loans and other consumer credit, plus willingness to make installment loans.
• Special topics: rotating questions on the level of standards versus the midpoint of the post-2005 range each July since 2011. It also covers the year-ahead outlook and ad-hoc subjects.
• Foreign-branch version: a C&I-focused set that omits mortgage and consumer questions since those offices barely lend to households.

The July 31, 2023 survey covering Q2 drew 66 domestic and 19 foreign respondents. It showed tighter standards and weaker demand for business and property loans, while mortgage tightening varied by loan type.

Business-loan tightening hit 50.8% for large and middle-market firms and 49.2% for small firms. Property-loan tightening hit 71.7%, 68.3% and 63.3% for construction, nonfarm and multifamily, with demand about 50% to 58% weaker, while card demand held at 0.0%.

At 50.8%, large-firm tightening met the 50% or more line for major, while 49.2% for small firms stayed significant, above 20% to below 50%. Change tightened that quarter, yet level answers placed standards on the tighter end of the post-2005 range after sitting near the midpoint a year earlier. Banks expected further tightening on a weak outlook.

1. Answers: Each responding bank picks one answer per question, such as tightened somewhat or unchanged, and may skip any question. Demand answers use stronger, about the same or weaker.
2. Standards net: For standards and terms, net percentage equals the tightening share minus the easing share, using considerable plus somewhat replies. For example, 35 of 66 banks tightening (53.0%) minus 3 easing (4.5%) gives 48.5%, labeled significant.
3. Demand net: For demand, net percentage equals the stronger share minus the weaker share, so negative values mean weaker demand on balance.
4. Weighting and seasonal adjustment: Results are simple bank shares with no asset weighting and no seasonal adjustment. New and used auto loans are equally weighted into one auto series since the second quarter of 2011.
5. Labels: The summary calls 0 to 5% basically unchanged, above 5% to 10% modest, and above 10% to 20% moderate. Above 20% to below 50% is significant, 50% or more is major.
6. Splits: Results are split by large versus other banks and domestic versus foreign respondents.