The new upper bound λmaxA≤∑k=1p+1i≡kmodp+1maxλmaxAii $$ {\uplambda}_{\mathrm{max}}(A)\le \sum \limits_{k=1}^{p+1}i\equiv {k}_{\left(\operatorname{mod}p+1\right)}^{\mathrm{max}}{\uplambda}_{\mathrm{max}}\left({A}_{ii}\right) $$
for the largest eigenvalue of a Hermitian positive semidefinite block banded matrix A = (Aij ) of block semibandwidth p is suggested. In the special case where the diagonal blocks of A are identity matrices, the latter bound reduces to the bound λmaxA≤p+1, $$ {\uplambda}_{\mathrm{max}}(A)\le p+1, $$
depending on p only, which improves the bounds established for such matrices earlier and extends the bound λmaxA≤2, $$ {\uplambda}_{\mathrm{max}}(A)\le 2, $$
old known for p = 1, i.e., for block tridiagonal matrices, to the general case p ≥ 1.