Banks reduced their borrowings from two Federal Reserve backstop lending facilities for a fourth straight week as liquidity constraints continue to ease following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last month.
(Bloomberg) — Banks reduced their borrowings from two Federal Reserve backstop lending facilities for a fourth straight week as liquidity constraints continue to ease following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last month.
US banks had a combined $139.5 billion in outstanding borrowings in the week through April 12, compared with $148.7 billion the previous week, Fed data showed Thursday.
Data showed $67.6 billion in outstanding borrowing from the Fed’s traditional backstop lending program, known as the discount window, compared with $69.7 billion the previous week and a record $152.9 billion reached last month.
Bank demand from the Bank Term Funding Program stood at $71.8 billion compared with $79 billion the previous week. It was the first decline in lending from the facility since it was created last month.
The continued easing in financial institutions’ demand for liquidity from the Fed suggests stress in the banking sector is abating. Several Fed officials said as much over the past week.
“I’m not ready to declare all clear but there are hopeful signs that these risks are now better understood and calm is being restored,” Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said Tuesday during a town hall event at Montana State University in Bozeman.
The discount window is the Fed’s oldest liquidity backstop for banks. Loans can be extended for 90 days and banks can post a broad range of collateral.
The BTFP was opened March 12 after the Fed declared emergency conditions following the collapse of California’s Silicon Valley Bank and New York’s Signature Bank. Credit can be extended for one year under the program and collateral guidelines are tighter.
Thursday’s report “confirms that acute phase of the current banking strains continues to gradually wind down,” Evercore ISI’s Krishna Guha said in a note to clients.
Fed loans to bridge banks established by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to resolve SVB and Signature Bank fell to $172.6 billion in the week through April 12, from $174.6 billion the previous week.
Foreign central banks had $30 billion outstanding in the Fed’s Foreign and International Monetary Authorities repurchase-agreement facility in the week through April 12, down from $40 billion.
(Updates with analyst comment in ninth paragraph.)
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