Glossary
bank failure records
Bank failure records are the FDIC's historical dataset of failed insured institutions - about 4,115 failures served through the BankFind Suite API. They sit alongside a registry of roughly 4,700 active institutions and ~4,100 failure records cited in the Bank Data Guide as distinct endpoint families.
What are bank failure records?
They are the closure half of the FDIC's institutional memory. The BankFind Suite API's coverage note states the 'failures dataset spans 4,115 historical failures', and estimated_size frames the split: '~4,700 active institutions plus ~4,100 failure records'.
Structure-change events are the connective tissue. The FDIC Bank Data Guide describes its content as 'historic bank data and structure change events', which is why failures, mergers and charter changes live as related endpoint families rather than one flat table. Analysts tracing an institution's lifecycle walk active-registry rows, failure rows and structure events together.
Why do bank failure records matter when choosing a dataset?
Failure history is the denominator for risk rates. Computing failure frequencies by era, size band or state requires the full 4,115-failure span, not just post-2000 windows; truncating the history silently biases every rate estimate.
Endpoint separation is the practical trap: pulling 'institutions' from BankFind returns the active ~4,700 unless the failures family is queried explicitly. Products claiming complete failure coverage should be tested against the 4,115 count, and any analysis joining failures to financials needs Call Report linkage - the failure record identifies the institution, the Call Reports carry its books.
How do you evaluate bank failure datasets in a source?
- Benchmark the count. 4,115 historical failures is the BankFind figure; ~4,100 appears in the Bank Data Guide framing - know which basis a claim uses.
- Query the right endpoint. Active institutions (~4,700) and failures are separate families in BankFind Suite.
- Demand structure-change context. Mergers and charter events explain disappearances that failure-only views misread.
- Link financials deliberately. Pair failure records with call-reports data for pre-failure condition analysis.
Related terms
- bank-registry - the active-institution counterpart (~4,700).
- call-reports - the financial statements joined to failed institutions.
Sector hub: diversified-banks data.
Frequently asked questions
How many bank failures does the FDIC record?
About 4,115 historical failures in the BankFind Suite failures dataset, alongside roughly 4,700 active insured institutions.
Do bank failure records include financial data?
Not inherently. Failure records identify institutions and events; financial condition comes from linked sources such as call reports.
Datasets containing this field
Datasets containing bank failure records
6 datasets carry bank failure records in the catalog. Open one, count the fields, judge for yourself.
BIS Locational Banking Statistics (LBS) & BIS Data Portal
L_MEASURE / Measure · L_POSITION / Balance sheet position · L_INSTR / Type of instruments …+9 more
Consolidated Banking Data (CBD2), delivered by Datadory
KEY · FREQ · REF_AREA …+7 more
FDIC Bank Data Guide
FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile
Number of institutions reporting · Total interest income · Net interest income …+7 more
OCC Financial Institution Lists
Every listing shows the field dictionary, sample rows, and coverage before you commit. API, files, or your warehouse. Daily, weekly, or hourly.
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