($1 = 0.9154 euros) (Reporting by Alessia Pé and Sara Rossi, editing by Valentina Za and Bernadette Baum)
(Adds data, background)
MILAN, April 12 (Reuters) - Italian residents' deposits
with domestic banks fell in February for a fourth month, hitting
their lowest level in just over two years as rising interest
rates and high inflation prompted savers to seek remuneration
for their cash, data showed.
At 2.64 trillion euros ($2.88 trillion), deposits were down
164 billion euros from a year ago and stood at the lowest since
January 2021 - down from 2.66 trillion in January, the Bank of
Italy said.
The fall in sight deposits is a trend widespread across the
euro zone, where banks have been slow in passing on to savers
the rise in the cost of money.
However, analysts expect competition for deposits to
increase following recent banking failures in the United States
and the forced takeover of Credit Suisse .
The decline in current account deposits was partially offset
by an increase in deposits with a maturity of up to two years,
which rose by 6.32 billion euros from a month earlier to 55.28
billion. Such deposits were 32.83 billion in February 2022.
Loans to non-financial companies fell by 0.5% year-on-year
in February after stagnating in January.
Central bank data also showed gross unpaid loans rose
fractionally to 30.63 billion euros in February from 30.42
billion euros a month earlier.
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