
This is the second part of an article that describes how banks have accommodated the very large involuntary increase in their Fed reserve balances that corresponds to Fed asset purchases. In this post, I show that banks increased their deposit funding substantially, allowing them to reduce nondeposit borrowings. “Core” deposits—deposits excluding large time deposits—also increased significantly, offset, in part, by a decline in large time deposits, which are deposits above $100,000. Concurrently, equity financing declined as a share of assets. I conclude that Fed asset purchases are not responsible directly for the surge in deposits and reduction in other liabilities and equities. Rather, both Fed and bank portfolio shifts are responses to heightened economic stress and uncertainty.