US Commercial Banks Total Banks' Deposits (SA) -52.2bln to USD 16,196bln (15/Mar Week)

US Large Commercial Banks (Seasonally Adjusted): 

• Deposits: +66bln to USD 10,740bln (prev. 10,673.4bln)


• Borrowings: +251bln to USD 887.4bln (prev. 636.4bln)


• Cash Assets: +305.1bln USD 1,527.9bln (prev. 1,222.8bln)

US Small Commercial Banks (Seasonally Adjusted):

• Deposits: -120bln to USD 5,455.9bln (prev. 5,575.9bln)


• Borrowings: +252.4bln to USD 669.6bln (prev. 417.2bln)


• Cash Assets +96.7bln to USD 501.7bln (prev. 405.0bln)

Domestically Chartered Commercial Banks (Seasonally Adjusted):

• Deposits: -53.2bln to USD 16,196.0bln (prev. 16,249.2bln)


• Borrowings: +503.4bln to 1,557.0bln (prev. 1,053.6bln)


• Cash Assets +401.7bln to USD 2,029.6bln (prev. 1,627.9bln)

Via Fed

Analysis details (08:51)

• Capital Economics said it suspects that the rise in small bank borrowings reflects emergency loans taken from the Fed, and the rise in cash at smaller banks might indicate that some of the increased borrowing was to build cash levels as a precaution in case depositors made large redemptions.


• The rise in large bank deposits suggests that the outflows from smaler institutions was channeled into bigger banks, and the rest probably made its way into money market funds or the bond market, CapEco says.


• However, it warns that the data might not be painting an accurate picture of stresses individual banks are facing, since the Fed's data for big banks includes institutions in the Top 25 by asset size; CapEco explains that this means both SVB (and likely the bridge bank that succeeded it) and First Republic qualify as big banks under that definition. "That partly explains why 'big' banks also increased their borrowings by USD 251bln last week, since that total includes emergency loans from the Fed too," noting that larger banks also raised cash on hand by around +25% W/W.


• In terms of the bigger picture, CapEco says that while the SVB-linked panic and lack of FDIC insurance on deposits above USD 250k explains most of the shifts, surging interest rates are a bigger issue: "Since peaking almost exactly one year ago, deposits at all domestic banks have fallen by USD 663bln (-3.9%), as money has flowed into money market funds and bonds," it writes, "unless banks are willing to jack up their deposit rates to prevent that flight, they will eventually have to rein in the size of their loan portfolios, with the resulting squeeze on economic activity another reason to expect a recession is coming soon."

24 Mar 2023 - 20:17- Fixed IncomeData- Source: Federal Reserve