US bank deposits, loans ticked down in latest week -Fed data

(Reuters) – Deposits at all U.S. commercial banks dropped in the second week of April, though at smaller banks deposits held steady in a sign of stabilization in the financial institutions hardest hit by deposit outflows after last month’s failure of two large regional banks.

Federal Reserve data released on Friday showed deposits at all commercial banks fell to $17.38 trillion in the week ended April 12, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, from $17.43 trillion a week earlier.

The drop was almost entirely at the top 25 banks, the data showed.

A drop in deposits can leave banks with less capacity for loans, though there was little to show that in the Fed’s data Friday.

Loans and leases at all banks ticked down to $12.05 trillion from $12.06 trillion a week earlier.

Fed officials have a sharp eye on bank lending and credit as they consider how much more to raise interest rates after the most aggressive round of rate hikes in 40 years since last March. The banking sector turmoil that erupted last month after regulators shuttered Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank (OTC:) had some policymakers worried that sharply tighter credit could follow, slowing the economy and inflation and leaving less for the Fed to do.

One effect of the higher interest rates is a rise in large time deposits, which at $1.87 trillion are now their highest since November 2009 on a nonseasonally adjusted basis. As a share of deposits, though, they remain very low at 10.8% of all deposits, the largest since August 2020 and up more than 3 percentage points from their record low in January 2022.

They are still only about a third of their record-high share 31% in May 2008.

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