Growth in commercial loan activity helped propel the American Banker Index of Banking Activity (IBA) Composite Index to a new high of 56.3 in February, following a dip to 53.4 in January. Respondents to the monthly IBA Survey, administered by American Banker in partnership with VantageScore Solutions, reported an increase in commercial-loan application volume of 7.3 percent and an increase in commercial loan approvals of 8.5 percent. Significant increases were also reported in the IBA component indexes that track commercial- and consumer-loan delinquencies. Those component indexes, which increase as the number of delinquencies decrease, rose 6.5 percent for commercial delinquencies and 10.7 percent for consumer delinquencies.
Source: American Banker and VantageScore Solutions, LLC
Compiled from surveys of executives at hundreds of financial institutions across the U.S., the index is an industry bellwether that tracks 16 distinct business indicators, such as volume of deposits, loan applications and loan delinquencies, and how they change month over month. Measurements of each of these components are combined into a single Composite Index, in which readings above 50 indicate business expansion, and those below 50 signify contraction. Find more information about the Index and its component measurements at AmericanBanker.com.