What the average bank does · June 30, 2026

Core business lines.

EveryBank doesn't pick its businesses. It does whatever America's 4,239 banks do, averaged. Some things nearly every bank does. Some things only one bank in fifty does. The big number on each line tells you which is which.

Segment 01

Lending

~100%of banks make loans

Two people meeting with a banker at a desk

Pictured: a loan, in progress.

Nearly every bank does this. Only 34 of the 4,239 lend nothing. Home loans are the biggest single piece, for the average bank and the middle bank alike. After that, the average bank leans on business loans, credit cards and car loans. The middle bank leans on loans for offices, stores and other commercial buildings.

$3.29B

Loans, average bank

$255M

Loans, middle bank

$703M

Home loans, average bank

$294M

Loans on buildings owned by investors, average bank

Segment 02

Bonds

88%of banks own government bonds, federal or local

A passenger train at a small-town station

Pictured: something a town might borrow for.

Money a bank isn't lending out sits in bonds. The most common one isn't a U.S. Treasury. It's a town bond. Three banks in four own bonds from local governments, often from their own area. Fewer than half own Treasuries. Almost no bank buys and sells securities for a quick profit.

74.5%

of banks own local-government bonds

47.8%

of banks own U.S. Treasuries

4.4%

of banks trade securities

$7.5B

Held for trading, average among the 4.4% that trade

Segment 03

Deposits and borrowing

52.5%of banks borrow from the Federal Home Loan Banks, the one outside lender most banks use

A red fuel nozzle resting on a pile of dollar bills

Pictured: the fuel.

Deposits do almost all the work. Checking, savings and CDs pay for about 84% of what the average bank owns. After deposits, about half of banks borrow from the Federal Home Loan Banks, lenders Congress set up to lend to banks. Other short-term borrowing is mostly a big-bank habit.

$4.48B

Deposits, average bank

83.7%

Deposits as a share of everything it owns, average bank

14.9%

of banks borrow short-term against their bonds

6.5%

of banks borrow overnight from other banks

Segment 04

Trading and hedging

27.2%of banks have any interest-rate contract

A man pointing at stock charts on a wall of screens

Pictured: a trading desk. Most banks do not have one.

Huge for the average bank, close to nothing for the middle bank. About one bank in four has a contract that pays off when interest rates move, usually as insurance. Contracts on currencies, stocks and commodities hardly exist outside a handful of big dealer banks.

27.2%

of banks, any interest-rate contract

1.8%

of banks, any currency contract

3.4%

of banks, any contract that pays if a borrower defaults

0.8%

of banks, any commodity contract (oil, grain, metals)

Growing: in 2010, about 0.6% of banks had a contract that pays if a borrower defaults. Today 3.4% do, more than five times as many. Mid-size banks use them to hand part of their loan risk to outside investors.

Segment 05

Mortgages

7.6%of banks report making home loans to sell this quarter

Hands passing a small model house across a desk

Pictured: a house, changing hands.

A real business for specialists, and the housing market's ups and downs in one line. Among banks that report this business, the average bank's volume doubled from 2019 into the 2020 refinancing boom, then fell by two thirds by 2023, after rates jumped. It is still below the boom.

$100.1M

Home loans made to sell, April–June 2026, average among banks that report it

$165.9M

Same, April–June 2020

$54.8M

Same, April–June 2023

24.1%

of banks collect payments on home loans they sold

Segment 06

Managing other people's money

9.7%of banks run a trust department

Wall Street in New York, with American flags on the Stock Exchange

Pictured: Wall Street. Nine banks in ten skip this business entirely.

The most exclusive club EveryBank belongs to. Only about one bank in ten looks after investments for customers, as a trustee or a custodian. A few giant custody banks hold so much that the average bank looks after $41.5 billion of other people's money, more than six times EveryBank's own size. For nine banks in ten, this business doesn't exist.

$41.5B

Held for others in custody, average bank (all 4,239)

$1.22B

Managed in trust, middle bank among those with a trust department

9.7%

of banks run a trust department

8.8%

of banks hold investments for others (custody)