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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 (CSGN.S).
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.
($1 = 0.9154 euros)
Reporting by Alessia Pé and Sara Rossi, editing by Valentina Za and Bernadette Baum
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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