MDRM — Micro Data Reference Manual (the meta-dictionary)¶

The MDRM (Micro Data Reference Manual) is the Federal Reserve's master catalog of the micro and macro data items collected from depository institutions and other respondents. It is the meta-dictionary that ties the entire Fed/FFIEC reporting universe together — Call Reports (FFIEC 031/041/051), the FR Y-9 holding-company family, the FFIEC 101/102 capital and market-risk reports, the Thrift Financial Report, and dozens of other forms all draw their coded variables from it. Every variable used elsewhere in this repository ultimately resolves to an MDRM code.

Naming note: the official expansion is Micro Data Reference Manual. "Master Data Reference Manual" appears in some downstream documentation as a variant — both refer to the same Fed MDRM. (Source: federalreserve.gov/apps/mdrm/about_mdrm.htm.)

1. What the MDRM is¶

Per the Fed's About MDRM page, the MDRM is "a catalog of micro and macro data collected from depository institutions and other respondents." It documents the labels and values associated with each data item, organized into reports/data series. The public web application (https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/mdrm/) exposes two main sections:

Reporting Forms and Mnemonics — links each reporting form's public name to its MDRM series mnemonic(s), with a brief description of each series.
Data Dictionary — defines each item (the numeric portion of the code) and lists every series on which that item is available, with applicable dates and full descriptions.

2. The 8-character code: mnemonic + item number¶

Every MDRM reference number is 8 characters = a 4-character series mnemonic + a 4-character item code:

  B H C K   2 1 7 0
  └──┬──┘   └──┬──┘
  mnemonic   item code
 (series/form) (the concept)

The mnemonic is unique to a data series and names the reporting form / scope (e.g. RCON, RCFD, BHCK, SVGL).
The item number is reused across mnemonics so the same concept can be compared across series. The Fed's own example: item 2170 = Total Assets appears as RCON2170 (domestic), RCFD2170 (bank consolidated), BHCK2170 (BHC consolidated), and SVGL2170 (Thrift Financial Report). (Source: about_mdrm.htm.)

This mnemonic/item split is exactly what a cross-form bank-data dictionary keys on, and why the prefix/namespace system (below) is the backbone of this repository.

3. The BHCK scope finding (v6.0 correction)¶

Question resolved: earlier drafts of this repo labeled BHCK as "BHC domestic operations only." That is wrong.

FINDING — VERIFIED: BHCK is the FR Y-9C consolidated series (domestic + foreign combined). It is the primary/dominant FR Y-9C prefix.

Authoritative evidence:

Fed MDRM, item 2170 (Total Assets): BHCK2170 is described as consolidated total assets for bank holding companies (domestic and foreign operations); RCON2170 is the domestic-only analog, RCFD2170 the bank-level consolidated analog. (federalreserve.gov/apps/mdrm/data-dictionary/search/item?keyword=2170)
Fed MDRM, item 3792 (Total risk-based capital): BHCK3792 is described as the consolidated FR Y-9C total risk-based capital (Schedule HC-R). (.../search/item?keyword=3792)
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago — Holding Company Data FAQ: "Variables for Y9C, LP and SP data are differentiated by their prefix… the prefix BHCK is for Y9C data, BHCP is for Y9LP data, and BHSP for Y9SP data." (chicagofed.org/banking/financial-institution-reports/bhc-data-faq)

The scope split on the FR Y-9C is therefore:

Prefix	FR Y-9C scope	Status
BHCK	Consolidated (domestic + foreign) — the main series	VERIFIED
BHDM	Domestic offices only (e.g. `BHDM6631`/`BHDM6636` domestic deposits)	VERIFIED
BHFN	Foreign offices only / Edge & Agreement subs / IBFs (e.g. `BHFN6631`)	VERIFIED
BHCA	Consolidated — Schedule HC-R risk-based (standardized) capital	VERIFIED (item 3792)
BHCW	Consolidated — Schedule HC-R advanced-approaches/Basel III capital (2014+)	VERIFIED (item 3792)
BHCP	Parent company only — reported on FR Y-9LP (not Y-9C)	VERIFIED
BHSP	Parent company only (small HCs) — FR Y-9SP	VERIFIED
BHCT	Consolidated — total/aggregate items (e.g. `BHCT2170` total assets); also some FR Y-11	VERIFIED
BHCM	Consolidated — small set incl. HC-D trading detail (e.g. `BHCM3531`)	VERIFIED
BHCB	Consolidated — deposit detail (e.g. `BHCB2210` demand deposits)	VERIFIED
~~BHCAP~~	Not a mnemonic — `BHCAP859` = `BHCA` + item `P859` (CET1)	CLARIFIED
~~BHCFA~~	Not a mnemonic — does not exist in MDRM (see correction below)	CORRECTED

Resolved 2026-06-09 against the full Fed MDRM dictionary (item counts per mnemonic):

BHCT (46 items, FR Y-9C + FR Y-11), BHCM (9 items, FR Y-9C incl. HC-D trading detail), BHCB (7 items, FR Y-9C deposit detail) — all VERIFIED as consolidated FR Y-9C series. BHCK remains the primary consolidated prefix; these are smaller specialized series.
BHCAP and BHCFA are not 4-character mnemonics. The mnemonic BHCAP has 0 MDRM items and BHCF/BHCFA have 0; the real mnemonic is BHCA (91 items). 8-character strings decompose as mnemonic (4) + item (4): BHCAP859 = BHCA+P859 (CET1 capital), BHCAA223 = BHCA+A223 (RWA).

CAPITAL-CODE CORRECTION (v6.0). Earlier releases used non-existent codes built on the bogus mnemonic BHCF (e.g. BHCF+A223 / BHCF+A224 / BHCF+A225) for Tier 1 / Tier 2 / Total capital. BHCF is the bulk-data filename prefix, not an MDRM mnemonic. The correct, MDRM-verified codes are BHCA8274 (Tier 1 capital), BHCA5311 (Tier 2 capital), and BHCA3792 (Total risk-based capital). At the 2014 Basel III transition the mnemonic changed BHCK → BHCA (so the pre-2014 codes were BHCK8274 / BHCK5311 / BHCK3792). All occurrences across this repository were corrected.

These resolutions are reflected in csv/MDRM_PREFIX_DEFINITIONS.csv and csv/MDRM_NAMESPACES.csv.

4. The prefix / namespace system¶

The 4-character mnemonic encodes both form family and scope (consolidation / domestic / foreign / parent-only). The repository ships two machine-readable catalogues:

csv/MDRM_PREFIX_DEFINITIONS.csv — the headline prefixes most analysts touch (BHCK/BHDM/BHFN, RCON/RCFD/RCFN/RIAD, UBPR…), with scope and consolidation flags.
csv/MDRM_NAMESPACES.csv — the fuller namespace catalogue: the whole FR Y-9 family (BHCK, BHDM, BHFN, BHCT, BHCM, BHCP, BHCB, BHCA, BHCAP, BHCFA, BHCW, BHSP), the Call Report family (RCFD, RCON, RCFN, RCOA, RCFA, RIAD, RCFW), UBPR (UBPR/UBPRE/UBPRM + peer UBPS/UBPK), FR Y-15 (RISK), NCUA 5300 (FS220), and the Thrift Financial Report (SVGL).

Quick reference — the consolidation pattern that recurs across form families:

Concept	BHC (FR Y-9C)	Bank (Call Report)
Consolidated (domestic + foreign)	`BHCK`	`RCFD`
Domestic offices only	`BHDM`	`RCON`
Foreign offices only	`BHFN`	`RCFN`
Risk-based capital (RC-R / HC-R)	`BHCA` (std), `BHCW` (advanced)	`RCFA`/`RCOA` (std), `RCFW` (advanced)
Income statement (YTD flow)	`RIAD` (HI)	`RIAD` (RI)
Parent company only	`BHCP` (Y-9LP), `BHSP` (Y-9SP)	—

Important: UBPR codes like UBPRE001 are the UBPR mnemonic + a 4-char item code beginning with a topic letter (E… = earnings, M… = memoranda). UBPRE/UBPRM are not separate 4-character MDRM mnemonics; they are convenience groupings, flagged as such in the CSVs. The genuinely distinct peer namespaces are UBPS (peer stats) and UBPK (peer rank).

5. The `MDRM_CSV.csv` data file¶

The downloadable dictionary (MDRM_CSV.csv) carries one row per mnemonic+item. A typical ingest parses it into an 11-column table — the 10 source columns plus a derived variable_id = mnemonic + item_code:

#	Column	Meaning
1	Mnemonic	4-char series/form code
2	Item Code (Item Number)	4-char item — the concept
3	Item Name	Human label (e.g. "Total Assets")
4	Start Date	First reporting date the item applies
5	End Date	Last reporting date (open if still active)
6	Confidentiality	`Y`/`N` — whether the item is confidential
7	Item Type	Category: financial/reported, structure, rate, examination, percentage, or derived (per About MDRM)
8	Reporting Form	The specific form the item appears on
9	Description	What is to be reported for the item
10	Series Glossary	Series-level (mnemonic) descriptive info
(+)	variable_id	Derived `mnemonic‖item_code`

Parse mechanics (typical, for the raw MDRM_CSV.csv):

The file begins with a literal PUBLIC header line that is skipped (rewind if absent).
UTF-8-sig; csv.DictReader; rows with empty mnemonic or item code are dropped.
Dates parsed "%m/%d/%Y %I:%M:%S %p" (fallback "%m/%d/%Y") → YYYY-MM-DD, else NULL.
Descriptions are html.unescaped and whitespace-collapsed (the raw file contains HTML entities and quoted fields).
A confidential-items-only list can be generated from the download page via a checkbox.

6. Downloading the MDRM¶


Web app / search	https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/mdrm/
About	https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/mdrm/about_mdrm.htm
Download	https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/mdrm/download_mdrm.htm
File	`MDRM.zip` (~6.6 MB) containing `MDRM_CSV.csv` + `README.txt`
Search by	item number, item name, series mnemonic, or reporting-form name

Item count: a full parse of the dictionary yields on the order of 87,000+ rows (observed ~87,351 in one recent load). The official download page does not publish a count, so treat ~87,000+ as an order-of-magnitude figure — UNVERIFIED as an exact total.

7. Sources (official)¶

Fed MDRM home — https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/mdrm/
About MDRM — https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/mdrm/about_mdrm.htm
Download MDRM — https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/mdrm/download_mdrm.htm
MDRM Data Dictionary, item 2170 (Total Assets) — https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/mdrm/data-dictionary/search/item?keyword=2170
MDRM Data Dictionary, item 3792 (Total risk-based capital) — https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/mdrm/data-dictionary/search/item?keyword=3792
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago — Holding Company Data FAQ (BHCK/BHCP/BHSP prefixes) — https://www.chicagofed.org/banking/financial-institution-reports/bhc-data-faq
FR Y-9C File Upload User Guide (BHDM/BHFN deposit items) — https://www.frbservices.org/binaries/content/assets/crsocms/central-bank/reporting-central/fr-y-9c-user-guide.pdf

8. Crosswalk files in this repository¶

Two complementary cross-form crosswalks ship here:

File	Rows	What it is
`csv/MDRM_MASTER_COMPLETE.csv`	~100	Curated concept spine — one row per analytical concept (Total Assets, CET1, …) hand-mapped across FR Y-9C / Call Report / FR Y-14 / Pillar 3, with CAMELS category and `adds_to` reconciliation links.
`csv/MDRM_CROSSWALK_EXPANDED.csv`	984	Verified breadth — every MDRM code referenced by the repo's FR Y-9C / Call Report / FFIEC 101/102 / FR Y-15 / Y-9LP / Y-11 / FFIEC 009 schedule files, enriched from the official MDRM with the item name, reporting form, and effective dates, plus the parallel code under each standard scope (`y9c_consolidated`/`y9c_domestic`/`y9c_foreign`/`call_consolidated`/`call_domestic`/`call_foreign`/`income_ytd`) and `all_mnemonics_for_item`.

How the expanded crosswalk is built (no fabrication): every code in MDRM_CROSSWALK_EXPANDED.csv is taken from the curated schedule files and then confirmed to exist in the Fed MDRM dictionary; a scope column is populated only when that parallel code (e.g. RCFD + the same item number) is itself present in MDRM — otherwise it is left blank. This is the mechanism behind the item-number-reuse principle in §2: the same item appears under many mnemonics, and the crosswalk simply lists the ones the Fed actually publishes. 489 of the 984 rows have a confirmed FR Y-9C ↔ Call Report consolidated pair.