Deposits in Irish banks

The pattern of the total deposits in all banks operating in Ireland paints a dramatic picture.  Since August 2010 deposits have fallen from €893 billion to €577 billion.

The fall has been dramatic but it has not been confined to domestic banks.  Deposits in other banks (mainly those operating in the IFSC) have also fallen and these have little effect on the domestic economy.

Deposits in domestic banks have fallen from €524 billion to €349 billion and it can be seen that this has mainly occurred in the six covered banks (AIB, BOI, EBS, PTSB, Anglo, INBS).  While deposits in non-covered domestic banks (Ulster Bank, National Irish Bank, Investec etc.) have fallen, it has not been as pronounced as in the covered banks.

The main driven of the fall in deposits in the covered banks has been the withdrawal of deposits from outside the eurozone.  Eurozone deposits have remained low.  Deposits from Irish residents have been trending down but seem to have taken an accelerated drop in July.

After falling dramatically in the six months after the expiry of the original bank guarantee deposits from non-residents in the covered banks have been relatively stable in 2011 and actually increase by €1 billion in July.  We have already examined the reason for the drop in Irish resident deposits in the covered banks.

In July the government moved nearly €20 billion of deposits out of the covered banks and used this money to recapitalise the banks.  Apart from this somewhat artificial movement deposits in the covered banks were unchanged in July (down €0.3 billion).