merrion street

Headline deposits at covered banks remained stable in March at €155.6bn, increasing by c.€0.9bn (c.+0.6%) during the month due to strong Retail inflows. On a constant currency basis, underlying deposits were c.€1.5bn higher month on month in March, however some volume was lost in the UK, offset by the strengthening of Euro against Sterling during the month.

While headline deposits during March increased, the weakening of Sterling against the Euro since December continues to affect deposit values, of the movement in UK deposit volumes since December c.53% of the movement is attributable to unfavourable foreign exchange movements.

The cumulative growth for the last 12 months (i.e. Mar 2012 versus Mar 2013) remains positive with headline deposits up c.€6.5 bn (4.3%) year on year although the pace of year on year growth continues to moderate.

The ending of the ELG Scheme on the 28th of March has not had an impact on deposit volumes in Covered Banks.

Banks operating in Ireland (i.e. both covered and non-covered banks) continue to reduce their level of borrowing from the ECB. During March total utilisation of ECB facilities by banks in Ireland declined by €8.8 billion (c.14%) to c.€53.1 billion – it’s lowest level since September 2008.