What is a Bank Lending Survey?

A bank lending survey is a questionnaire circulated by the Central Bank to obtain information about the lending environment and also provide clarity to the understanding of the people about the lending environment. A bank lending survey asks questions such as the number of loans made, the interest rates charged on loans, default rates, questions about commercial and retail lending, demands for loans, among other questions. The survey also asks for information of the financial portfolios of a bank and the existing banks. The Central Bank circulates the bank lending survey quarterly, semi-annually or as the situation demands. The Central Bank uses the information obtained from the survey in regulating the lending environment and the overall economy.

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How Does a Bank Lending Survey Work?

The Bank lending survey is circulated to banks to seek information about the lending environment, participating banks are given about two weeks to submit the bank lending survey. In the United States, the Central Bank is known as the Federal Reserve, it circulates bank lending survey to participating banks every quarter, banks can also access the survey questions on the official website of the Federal Reserve. Bank lending survey can take different formats which are decided upon by the Central bank depending on the information they need to obtain and the regulation they need to make. In the United States, for example, the bank lending survey conducted in January 2018 treated questions relating to the lending environment three months before the circulation and the survey has 71 participating domestic banks and 23 branches of foreign banks.