Supervision and Regulation Report (Federal Reserve Board)

Summary

• Over 99 percent of all U.S. banking organizations were well capitalized as of the fourth quarter of 2025.p.11
• Aggregate tangible common equity (TCE) reached a high of $2.23 trillion at year-end 2025.p.11
• Deposits at commercial banks reached a historical high of $19.5 trillion by February 2026.p.11
• Total loan balances grew 5.6 percent throughout 2025, expanding across all major loan categories.p.13
• Bank return on average assets stood at about 1.1 percent and return on equity was about 11.2 percent at year-end 2025.p.14
• The Federal Reserve reviewed 942 applications in 2025, up from 807 applications reviewed in 2024.p.35

Key insights

1. Total loan delinquency rates increased slightly to 1.6 percent by end-of-year 2025, remaining below the long-run historical average of about 3 percent.p.14
2. The Federal Reserve issued a Statement of Supervisory Operating Principles to focus examiner attention on safety and soundness threats rather than procedural shortcomings.p.10
3. The Federal Reserve Board proposed codifying the removal of reputation risk from bank examination programs to concentrate on material financial risks.p.21
4. IT and operational risk constituted the largest share of outstanding supervisory findings for community and regional banking organizations at year-end 2025.p.27
5. Approved merger and acquisition applications rose to 145 in 2025, accounting for 16.4 percent of total approved bank applications.p.35