The highly anticipated release of Q1bank call reports did not disappoint! Given a highly dynamic three months in the banking sector (see SVB, Signature, First Republic), deposits movements across banks were expected. But, digging into the data revealed unexpected trends!

Highlights

• By asset size, the big winners were banks in the $1-10 billion band. All other bands lost deposits!
• Three of the top 10 banks (Citi, BofA, Wells) were among the top 10 banks with deposit outflows in Q1
• While west coast banks saw the largest regional outflows, banks in the Midwest saw the greatest inflows
• Generally speaking, banks made great strides in shifting deposits into insured products

Smaller regional banks were greatest recipients of deposits

In aggregate, banks with $1-10 billion of assets (as of 12/31/2022) saw the greatest - and only - deposit increase!

Several mega banks saw the largest outflows

Among banks with the top 10 deposit outflows, there were some expected names like First Republic. Despite all the concern of disposition leaving small banks and going to the G-SIBs, banks like Bank of America, Citi and Wells Fargo saw notable outflows.

Regional flows included surprising results

The Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions were net attractors of deposits while nearly all other regions saw net outflows.

Notable success moving from uninsured to insured deposits

Given the focus on uninsured deposits as a contributing factor to recent bank runs, it's not surprising to see many banks make a concerted effort to shift their deposit base to insured products.The following chart shows banks with at least 25% uninsured deposits in Q4(x-axis) compared to the precent dollar change in insured deposits quarter-over-quarter. Over 70% of banks showed a dollar increase of insured deposits (most of the others saw a net deposit outflow to combat any shift towards insured).

There’s a lot more to dig into, so please stay tuned for a follow-up post!

Note: above analysis based on FFIEC data for Q4 2022 and Q1 2023.

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