BUS 410: Financial Institutions

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Financial data

Government data

Canada: Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions - Financial Data for Banks
Detailed financials for banks operating in Canada, including quarterly BCAR (Basel Capital Adequacy Reporting) data.

USA:  FDIC-Bank Industry Analysis
Access financial information on specific banks as well as analyses on the banking industry and economic trends.

USA: FFIEC Central Data Repository's Public Data Distribution site
Reports of Condition and Income (Call Reports) and Uniform Bank Performance Reports (UBPRs) for most FDIC-insured institutions from the (US) Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

USA: FRED: Federal Reserve Economic Data
Time series data on banking, interest rates, business lending, and much more. No company-specific data.

Library databases

Eikon 

Refinitiv Eikon + Datastream. 
Eikon offers very detailed financial data at both a company and industry level, with very easy exporting options. This screen capture shows how to find industry data, and this one shows you a company-level menu of information options. (Formerly known as Thomson Reuters Eikon + Datastream.)

Finding industry and company-level data in Eikon (text version)

To find industry data, start with your general industry, and browse the industry categories to drill down for specifics. For instance:

  1. Select Industry at top left
  2. Select Banking & Investment Services under Industry
  3. Below that, select Banking Services
  4. Below that, select Banks
  5. Below Banks, see options for Banks (NEC), Corporate Banks, Retail & Mortgage Banks, and Money Center Banks.

You can also adjust the geographic scope to focus on your region or country.

For company-level information:

  1. Search for your company by name or ticker
  2. Browse the menu categories for financial data, analysts' estimates, lots of charts, peer comparisons, and much more.

The menu options are: Overview, News & Research, Price & Charts, Estimates, Financials, ESG, Events, Ownership, Debt & Credit, Peers & Valuation, and Derivatives.

Under Financials, you can select Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, Operating Metrics, Segments, Major Customers, several options for Ratios, and also Earnings Quality.

CapIQ

S&P Capital IQ (aka "CapIQ")
CapIQ provides detailed financials -- and it's accessible from home! (As long as you first register for your account while you are on campus...)  This screen capture shows how to retrieve industry-specific financial data for a given company (e.g., "non-performing loans"), and this one shows how to retrieve industry average ratios.

TIP: Browse my blog posts about CapIQ first to learn about how to register for an account and where to find training on some of its more complex functions.

Finding industry and company-level data in S&P Capital IQ (text version)

To find financial data for a public-traded company: 

  1. Search for your company by name or ticker at the top of the screen
  2. Choose Industry Specific from the Financials/Valuation section in the side menu of topics

Note that the other topics in the side menu such as Income Statement and Capital Structure Details may also be useful for your assignment.  

To find industry average ratios in CapIQ:

  1. Select Markets on the top navigation bar
  2. Select Financials
  3. Select Key Stats & Ratios from the side menu
  4. At the top of the table that will be generated, choose Bank from the drop-down list of Select Template options.

Note that you can choose narrower industries and specify a region or country using the Refine Industry and Refine Geography links in the top-right corner of the screen.

More financial data resources

Also try: WRDS, especially the Bank Regulatory file for US data in an easily downloadable format.

For further financial data resources, try the following SFU Library guides:

News

Factiva
International news database with strong business/industry content. A simple keyword search can produce an overwhelming amount of information, so consider refining your search by focusing on a specific company, the publications in a specific industry,  or articles about a specific industry in any of the 35,000 publications covered by Factiva. Also explore some of the pre-set searches that the experts at Factiva have already created for you.

Tips for efficient searching in Factiva (text version)

To find articles about a specific company:

  1. Search for and select your target firm in the Company field on the main search form
  2. Add additional terms to the Free Text Search box to refine your search

To find articles in publications in a specific industry: 

  1. Click on the triangle next to All Sources in the Source field on the search form
  2. Change the drop-down box next to Select Source Category to By Industry
  3. Click on the plus sign next to Banking/Credit to see the publications that category includes
  4. Click on Banking/Credit to add that category to your search
  5. Add additional terms to the Free Text Search box to refine your search

To find articles about a specific industry in any of the 35,000 publications covered by Factiva: 

  1. Click on the triangle next to All Industries in the Industry field on the search form
  2. Click on the plus sign next to Financial Services to see sub-industries such as Banking/Credit
  3. Click on the sub-industry you want to add it to your search
  4. Add additional terms to the Free Text Search box to refine your search

To use Factiva's pre-set Expert Searches: 

  1. Click on the triangle next to Factiva Expert Search on the search form
  2. Click on the plus signs next to each broad category to explore its sub-categories
  3. When you find a relevant sub-category, click on it to add that pre-set search to your search
  4. Consider, especially, the sub-categories in the Competitive Intelligence and Reputation Risk areas.
  5. Add additional terms to the Free Text Search box or specify a company in the Company field or an industry in the Industry field to refine your search

You can also browse/search articles in single publications in Factiva.  For instance, the database includes banking/financial services publications such as: 

 TIP: Follow the publication-direct links above, then look for the links through to the Factiva version of each publication.  Once you're in Factiva, click on Modify Search, then add search terms to narrow your search.  

Nexis Uni
Nexis Uni is similar to Factiva (both cover international news), but does have some unique content. 

For additional news sources, try our general News research guide.

Industry & company reports

IBISWorld Industry Reports
Includes annually updated reports such as: 

  • Commercial Banking in the US
  • Credit Unions in Canada
  • Investment Banking & Securities Dealing in the US
  • Regional Banks in the US 
  • Commercial Banking in Canada 
  • Global Commercial Banks

Plunkett's Banking, Mortgages & Credit Industry Almanac 2020
A broad almanac with recent data on key trends in the industry, as well as overviews of many major firms.

MarketLine: Industry Profiles and Company Profiles via Business Source Complete
Most of these profiles include a SWOT (company) or 5-Forces (industry) analysis. The link for the Industry Profiles will take you to a pre-set search covering a wide range of industries. Add search terms such as bank* or financ* to focus on your target industry.

Hoover's Reports : Company & Industry
Hoover's offers basic and in-depth profiles of thousands of companies. Profiles include key financial details as well as lists of top officers and main competitors. Most companies are publicly-traded and based in the USA or Canada, although some non-North American and privately owned companies are also covered. Hoover's also includes basic overviews of key industries.

GlobalData (Global Markets Direct) Company Profiles & Industry Forecasts (via Nexis Uni)
Descriptive information (competitors, products, etc.) on about 8000 companies, plus much deeper information on the largest 1000 companies: Business Strategy, Financial and Operational Data, SWOT Analysis, Value Chain Analysis, etc. 

Frost & Sullivan
A good source for reports on key emerging technologies such as FinTech and AI that may be affecting the banking industry. F&S contains such reports as: 

  • Digital Transformation and Fintech Strategies of Citigroup 
  • FinTech—Growth Opportunities in the Global Market 

For further company/industry reports, try the following SFU Library guides:

 Writing, citing, and presenting

a. Writing your report

Research is only half the battle! You also need to communicate your findings in a clear, well-structured paper, Check the SFU Library guides to Business Writing and Writing for University for resources to help with paper structures, grammar, spelling, and more.

b. Citing your sources

APA Style: Start with the SFU Library guide to APA Style and this guide to citing business sources.  Note that APA style doesn't provide very detailed guidance on how to cite financial databases of the sort that you may be using. Some interpretation of the instructions in the APA Manual is often necessary -- always be consistent and unambiguous.

Plagiarism: Learning how to properly credit others when you use their ideas is a difficult, but important part of research. Start with the SFU Library's interactive tutorial "Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism" to test yourself and to learn more about plagiarism. Also read the SFU Library Guide on Avoding Plagiarism for further discussion of this critical topic and for links to other plagiarism guides.

c. Presentations

Learning to clearly and succinctly present the results of your research is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced as much as financial analysis, report writing, and time management, and it's a skill that is in strong demand in many occupations.  Start with the SFU Library guide to Business Presentation resources!

Getting help

a. You can get help from a reference librarian in person at our reference desks as well as via email, chat, and telephone. Try our Ask a Librarian services.

b.  You may also email me: Mark Bodnar mbodnar@sfu.ca. Please try to include as much of the following information in your question as you can.  This will make it much easier for me to help you quickly.

  • What exactly you are after (saying that you need "everything about Capital One" is far too broad - saying that you need to know where to find "the last 5 years of detailed financials for Capital One" is better);
  • Where you have looked so far (i.e., Have you tried the sources listed in the Industry Surveys guide? What sources in the Company Information guide have you tried?);
  • and what search terms you used.

Good luck with your research!

Mark Bodnar
mbodnar@sfu.ca

P.S.: Want to keep up to date on news about the SFU Library's business resources?  Check out the BUEC Buzz blog: 

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