About PlainBankData

Our Mission

PlainBankData exists because depositors, investors, and researchers deserve accessible, clear data about the financial health of the banks that hold their money. The FDIC publishes comprehensive financial data for every insured institution in the United States, but it is buried in regulatory filings and bulk data downloads designed for analysts, not for everyday banking customers.

We believe that banking safety data collected at public expense belongs to the public in a form they can actually use. PlainBankData transforms raw FDIC Call Report data into searchable bank profiles with plain-language safety grades, so anyone, not just regulators and financial professionals, can evaluate the health of their bank.

We do not accept advertising from banks, we do not recommend specific institutions, and we do not sell financial products. The data speaks for itself. Our role is to make it legible.

Our Data Sources

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

All financial data on PlainBankData comes from the FDIC Call Reports, formally known as Reports of Condition and Income. Every FDIC-insured bank is required by law to file quarterly financial statements, at the end of March, June, September, and December. These filings include balance sheets, income statements, capital ratios, loan quality metrics, and dozens of supplementary schedules.

Call Reports are filed through the FFIEC Central Data Repository and published by the FDIC through its Quarterly Banking Profile and bulk download tools. Because filing is mandatory, not voluntary or self-reported, the data has a level of completeness and reliability that commercial or crowd-sourced banking data cannot match.

How We Process the Data

We download the quarterly FDIC Call Report bulk data files and process them through the following steps:

  • Parsing and normalization: Raw FDIC data files contain hundreds of fields per institution. We extract the key financial metrics, capital ratios, profitability measures, asset quality indicators, and efficiency ratios, and normalize them into a consistent schema.
  • Safety grade calculation: We compute composite A-F safety grades using a weighted formula based on Tier 1 capital ratio, total risk-based capital ratio, return on assets (ROA), Texas Ratio, efficiency ratio, and net interest margin. Each metric is scored against regulatory thresholds established by the FDIC and federal banking agencies.
  • Geographic linking: Each bank is linked to its headquarter state and any branch states using FDIC certificate numbers and geographic identifiers, enabling state-level comparisons and rankings.
  • Failure tracking: We integrate the FDIC's historical bank failure list to provide context on institutions that have been closed, acquired in distress, or placed into receivership.

No data is fabricated, interpolated, or modified. The underlying financial figures are presented exactly as reported in the bank's official Call Report filing. The safety grades and rankings are our derived analysis, clearly labeled as such.

Data Currency

PlainBankData currently displays data from the most recent FDIC quarterly Call Report release. Banks file at the end of each calendar quarter (March 31, June 30, September 30, December 31), and the FDIC typically makes the data publicly available 4-8 weeks after each filing deadline.

We update PlainBankData within 30 days of each new quarterly release. Because of the regulatory filing cycle, the data shown always reflects the bank's financial position at the end of the most recent completed quarter, there is an inherent lag of 2-4 months between the reference date and when the data appears on this site. This is a feature of all regulatory financial data and is the same lag that professional analysts and regulators work with.

Editorial Independence

Content on PlainBankData is compiled by our editorial team. Raw data from IRS, SEC, FDIC, NCUA, and related financial agencies is transformed into readable profiles by our continuous editorial pipeline, validated against the source before publication. The PlainBankData editorial team, is responsible for editorial standards, methodology, and corrections.

We do not accept payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from financial firms, banks, advisors, or any covered entity. Our only revenue source is contextual display advertising served by Google AdSense, advertisers do not influence which entities we cover or how we present data, and they do not receive preferential placement.

Limitations and Disclaimers

PlainBankData is an informational resource. Banking and deposit decisions should consider many factors beyond the metrics shown here. Every institution and every depositor's situation is different.

  • Backward-looking data: Call Report data reflects the bank's position at a point in time. Conditions can change between filing dates. Capital ratios are not real-time indicators.
  • Safety grades are approximations: Our grades use publicly available data only. They do not incorporate non-public supervisory information that bank examiners use in their assessments. A bank with a strong grade may still have issues visible only to regulators.
  • Off-balance-sheet risk: Some bank risks (commitments, derivatives, contingent liabilities) are not fully captured by the standard ratios we display. Large banks with complex operations may have risk profiles not reflected in their capital ratios.
  • Not affiliated with FDIC: PlainBankData is an independent data portal. We are not affiliated with the FDIC, any federal banking agency, or any bank.

This site is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Consult a qualified financial professional before making decisions based on this data. Always verify important figures with official FDIC sources.

Contact

Questions, data corrections, or feedback? Email us at hello@plainbankdata.com.

We welcome:

  • Questions about data sources or methodology
  • Reports of apparent data errors or anomalies
  • Suggestions for additional data or features
  • Media and research inquiries

PlainBankData is published by ", a data intelligence company that builds free, public-interest data portals. We transform complex government datasets into accessible, searchable resources for researchers, journalists, policymakers, and the public.