WASHINGTON — About 55% of domestic banks have reported tightening their lending standards on commercial and industrial loans to large and midsize businesses over the past three months, according to the Federal Reserve Board's April 2008 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices.

The data is based on responses from 56 domestic banks and 21 United States-based branches and agencies of foreign banks. The 55% increase is up from the nearly 30% reported in the Fed's January survey. Fifty percent of domestic banks reported tightening lending standards to smaller firms since January.

The vast majority of large domestic banks that reported stronger loan demand from large and middle market firms indicated that customer borrowing shifted to their banks from other bank or nonbank sources, as these other sources became less attractive for such borrowers, the survey showed. This is in contrast to some credit union and CUSO executives who have recently indicated that small business owners have come to them for financing needs after being turned down by banks.