README - Modern call report data (1959Q4-2024Q4)

Background

This dataset contains selected variables from all commercial bank “call reports” between 1959Q4 and 2024Q4. The original source of the data are the corresponding forms filed with the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). The data contain over 2.5 million quarterly financial statements for 24,710 unique banks.

This data was one of the key inputs for our work “Failing Banks”; please cite it if using the data for research purposes:

As text

As BibTex

@article{FailingBanks,
  author = {Correia, Sergio and Luck, Stephan and Verner, Emil},
  title = {{Failing Banks}},
  journal = {The Quarterly Journal of Economics},
  pages = {1-50},
  year = {2025},
  month = {09},
  issn = {0033-5533},
  doi = {10.1093/qje/qjaf044},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjaf044},
  eprint = {https://academic.oup.com/qje/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/qje/qjaf044/64222453/qjaf044.pdf},
}

Files

Sources

Notes

The data contain the original line items reported in the call report. Each line item corresponds to a series name/mnemonic and a 4-digit numeric or alphanumeric code. Some codes are unchanged across forms, such as total assets and total deposits. For variables that are not consistently reported across time such as security holdings and gross loan exposures, we create derived items which account for changes in the reporting form across time.

The data dictionary contains the dataset label, description, mnemonic and field as they appear on the physical form, and the valid period for each variable.

Further, note that: