H8: Discontinuation of District-specific balance sheet data

Effective with this edition of the H.8 statistical release, the Federal Reserve is discontinuing the publication of the District-specific balance sheet data of large, domestically chartered banks that appeared on pages 11 through 14 of the release.

The reason for the change is that, with the ability of banks to establish branches virtually nationwide as of June 1, 1997, a number of large bank holding companies have converted banks located across several Federal Reserve Districts into branches of a single bank. These consolidations have significantly shifted bank balance sheet items among Federal Reserve Districts, further weakening the connection between banking data reported separately by Federal Reserve District and actual banking activities in each District.

However, the item coverage of the aggregate balance sheets of large banks in the H.8 has been expanded to retain the national totals of some of the items in the District tables that had not appeared in the national tables. As a result, the H.8 now reports the large bank data on four pages rather than two.