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May 5 (Reuters) - Deposits at U.S. commercial banks fell
toward the end of April to the lowest in nearly two years, data
released on Friday by the Federal Reserve showed, while overall
credit provided by banks moved up, led by a record level of
outstanding loans and leases.
Deposits on a nonseasonally adjusted basis fell in the week
ended April 26 to about $17.1 trillion, a drop of about $120
billion from the week earlier. That was the lowest level since
June 2021, with deposits now having declined by more than $500
billion from the week before Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed
in March.
After record deposit outflows immediately after the failure
of SVB and smaller Signature Bank within days of each other,
deposits had stabilized into early April. They picked up again
in the latter half of April, a period that typically has large
outflows from accounts as the annual tax filing season comes to
a close.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, which takes that pattern
into account, deposits have changed little since the end of
March.
At large U.S. banks deposits fell to $10.54 trillion from
$10.61 trillion a week earlier, on a nonseasonally adjusted
basis. Deposits at small banks totaled $5.32 trillion, compared
with $5.34 trillion.
Meanwhile, total banking system credit has yet to show the
contraction many economists and policymakers anticipate to
develop after the recent banking system turmoil and aggressive
interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve over the past
year. Regulators seized a third bank - First Republic - this
week and JPMorgan Chase & Co , the largest U.S. bank,
took over.
Total banking system credit rose for a second week to $17.37
trillion led by an increase in loans and leases to a record high
$12.11 trillion, on a nonseasonally adjusted basis, from $12.07
trillion in the previous week. Nevertheless, loan growth has
flattened out in recent months: the annual growth rate has
cooled from a double-digit pace late last year to about 9% as
April was ending, suggesting tighter conditions are beginning to
temper bank credit.
(Reporting by Dan Burns; Editing by Josie Kao)
