Capital Briefs: Fed Upgrading Profit Analysis Service

The Federal Reserve is upgrading a cost accounting and profit analysis service used by thousands of financial institutions to rate their performance in various markets.

"We are going to engage in a major enhancement of this product to make it state of the art," said Eliot E. Giuili, director of statistics at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. "Ultimately it will provide more output to the depository institutions that participate."

The Fed has offered the Functional Cost and Profit Analysis program since 1957. Banks, thrifts, and credit unions answer scores of questions about their performance in different markets, such as trust and foreign investment. The San Francisco Fed compiles the data and sends the institution a report rating it against its peers. It charges $150 for the service. The Fed also creates national averages, which it publishes as a separate document available for $100.

The Fed just completed phase one of the project, creating a Windows- based version of the software used to input the data. Additional changes will allow bankers to compare the performance of various departments within lines of business.

All the changes will be instituted by the end of 1997.