The amount of money U.S. banks borrowed from the Federal Reserve rose for the second week in a row, a sign that stress on the financial system hasn’t totally gone away.
Total bank borrowing rose to $96.1 billion in the seven days ending May 17, from $92.4 billion in the prior week.
Several regional banks have been taken over by larger banks or sold off in parts over the past several months. The trigger was the collapse of California-based Silicon Valley Bank in March.
After Silicon Valley Bank failed, the Fed created an emergency lending program to prevent more bank failures and stabilize the U.S. financial system.
Bank loans from the emergency Bank Term Funding Program totaled $87 billion in the seven days ending May 17, up from $83.1 billion in the prior week. Bank borrowing from the Fed’s traditional discount window fell slightly to $9.1 billion from $9.3 billion in the prior week.
Total borrowing from the Fed peaked at $164.8 billion in mid-March.
A few of the banks that had been heavy borrowers, such as First Republic Bank, were taken over and their assets transferred to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for sale to other banks.
Credit temporarily allocated by the Fed to the FDIC to dispose of failed-bank assets declined to $208.5 billion from $212.5 billion in the prior week.
