Federal Reserve releases September 2026 Senior Credit Officer Opinion Survey results

Xin Huang: Xin Huang is a staff member in the Division of Research and Statistics at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He prepared the full report on the September 2026 Senior Credit Officer Opinion Survey on Dealer Financing Terms, summarizing dealer responses regarding credit terms, collateral practices, and leverage trends. Staff from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Capital Markets Function, Statistics Function, and Markets Group assisted in developing and administering the survey. Federal Reserve System: The Federal Reserve System serves as the central banking system of the United States, overseeing monetary policy, financial stability, and regulatory functions through its Board of Governors and regional Reserve Banks. It administers the Senior Credit Officer Opinion Survey on Dealer Financing Terms to collect qualitative data from major financial institutions on credit conditions in securities financing and OTC derivatives markets. The September 2026 edition of this survey, covering changes from June to August 2026, was prepared under its auspices and includes both core quarterly questions and special long-term assessments of capital allocation and client leverage. Survey Scope: The survey gathers qualitative insights on credit terms, mark and collateral disputes, and client leverage from 17 major dealers that account for nearly all dealer financing of dollar-denominated securities to nondealers. Market Conditions: Dealer responses indicate that price and nonprice terms on securities financing and OTC derivatives transactions remained basically unchanged on net across counterparty types over the three-month period. Long-Term Perspective: Special questions compare current dealer capital allocation and client leverage levels to ranges observed over the past decade, highlighting positions relative to historical midpoints and highs.