Consumer uncertainty may have helped bank deposits grow to nearly $10 trillion.
Research firm Market Rates Insight offered that reason as it looked at bank deposit growth through the end of June. By then, total deposits at FDIC-insured institutions had reached a record $9.8 trillion.
That amount increased by $343 billion in the first half of this year, according to MRI. Nearly 100% of the increase in deposits in the first half of this year occurred in domestic accounts.
“We projected this phenomenal growth in deposits and the shift from term to liquid accounts in the analysis we produced last year,” said Dan Geller, executive vice president at MRI. “The reason we are witnessing such growth and shift in deposits despite meager interest rates is because consumers are very fearful about the economy, and are fleeing to the safety and security of insured and liquid deposits.”
The shift of money from certificates of deposit to liquid accounts such as checking, savings and money market, continues, MRI found. In the first half of 2011, CDs decreased from $1.9 billion to $1.8 billion. Liquid accounts balances increased from $5.8 billion to $6.3 billion.
Geller said the shift of balances from business to retail consumer deposits also continues to grow. In the first half this year, the amount of retail consumer deposits increased by $382 billion as business deposit balances decreased by $29 billion.
As of June, retail consumer balances made up 90.1% of total deposits, up from 89.2% in the beginning of the year, according to MRI.
