Frequently Asked Questions

The study is a survey of income, expense, staffing levels, and productivity by line of business. Within each line of business, the study provides a series of measures that compare your institution’s efficiency and effectiveness to peers of similar asset size.

The prestigious study is industry recognized as being the only comprehensive quantitative analysis of its kind for banks, thrifts, and credit unions in the United States. The study’s aggregate results are frequently featured at conferences hosted by BAI and AMIfs, and in publications such as American Banker, Commercial Lending Review, Small Business Banker, and The Nolan Newsletter. The Robert E. Nolan Company is a trusted source in the financial services industry with 35 years of experience serving over 600 U.S. companies.

All U.S. banks, thrifts, and credit unions over $900 million in asset size can participate.

Participation is free, and the benefits you will gain are extremely valuable. Upon completion of the study, participants receive an extensive results package that gives you concrete improvement targets.

Depending on the availability of detailed information in the GL and sub-systems, one full-time employee can typically gather and organize the required data in about two to four weeks. This person must be familiar with your financial reporting process and have access to line-of-business managers for certain productivity information.

To assist you in preparing your data as efficiently as possible, we will host a free Webinar for participating institutions on Thursday, February 28 at 3 pm EST. The Nolan ER Study Project Lead will conduct this session to guide participating institutions through completion of the data input file. He will share insight on commonly asked questions surrounding time requirements, data breakout, and assistance you may require from other business units.

Absolutely! Each participating institution can see only its own confidential data. The comparative results are shown only as aggregate top-tier, average, and median pool data.

All participants receive an extensive results package that includes a customized executive summary identifying the strengths and opportunities for improvement in the participating organization. Also included are proprietary charts showing more than 1,100 performance ratios measuring efficiency and effectiveness compared to benchmark, median, and average peers in 11 business areas.

The results provide executive management with a structured process for identifying departments and lines of business that have the greatest opportunity for immediate profit improvement. Participants commonly identify improvements within:

Each participant's results are based on the data they collect and record in the Input Forms. If the participant follows the Data Prep Instructions provided and inputs the data correctly, the pool comparisons will be accurate. If the data submitted is incorrect, hurried, or sub-optimal, the results will be inaccurate. Bad data, however, is never added to the pools.

Yes! To respect the institutions that submit data on time, late submissions may not be included in the pools.

You may turn in your Input Forms at any time during 2008, and we will process your data against the pools prepared from participants meeting the deadline. However, you will not have the benefit of being included in the pools.

We hold all individual participant names in strict confidence; therefore, we report only pool data. Typically, the small pool contains institutions with assets ranging from  $900 million to $5 billion. The average asset size in the small pool is $1.9 billion. Typically, the large pool contains institutions with assets ranging from $6 billion to $90 billion. The average asset size in the large pool is $23.3 billion.