MONTHLY BANKING figures released yesterday show deposits continued to leave the Irish banking system in February.
However, deposit withdrawals, which emerged as a significant problem in the middle of last year, have slowed in recent months.
Total deposits in banks located in Ireland stood at €648 billion at the end of February, a decline of €12.5 billion on January, according to the data from the Central Bank.
Since July of last year, deposits are down €285 billion, or more than 30 per cent.
These figures include foreign financial institutions operating in the on-shore economy and those operating from the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin.
Excluding these institutions, Irish banks covered by the Government guarantee had deposits of €314.4 billion in February (see chart).
There was an outflow of €5 billion over the course of the month. This was the smallest monthly withdrawal of deposits since the middle of 2010.
The overwhelming majority of deposit withdrawals from the covered banks was accounted for by non-residents.
Deposits of resident Irish households and businesses stood at €165 billion at the end of last month. This was almost €2 billion down on January and more than €20 billion down on a year earlier, representing a decline of almost 10 per cent.
The amount banks have loaned continued to fall by most measures, as amounts being repaid exceed new lending.
Total outstanding mortgage loans fell below €100 billion in December for the first time since early 2006. The stock of home loans outstanding in February was €99.1 billion, a fall of €209 million on the month.
Compared to the all-time peak, reached in May 2008, the banks’ aggregate mortgage loan book has shrunk by 22 per cent.
Loans to non-financial businesses account for the second largest chunk of banks’ lending to the real economy.
In February, the outstanding amount of such lending fell €1.729 billion to €91 billion.
Outstanding lending to businesses is now almost half its peak in August 2008.
Much of the decline is accounted for by the transfer of property developer loans to the National Asset Management Agency.
Lending for consumer purchases has also declined sharply. In February, consumer loans stood at €18.5 billion. At their peak in January 2009 they stood at €29 billion.
