The Stability of Retail Banks’ Deposit at the Early Stages of Covid-19 Pandemic: A Preliminary Evidence from Euro Area

Abstract

In this paper we analyze trends of euro area retail banks’ deposit at the early stages of Covid-19. It emerges that overnight and total deposits placed by households and non-financial corporations in the major euro area countries (Germany, France, Italy and Spain) are “sluggish” and “sticky” even in an extraordinary period characterized by unexpected shocks due to the ongoing pandemic. All this for the benefit of solidity of the European banking and financial system and, more broadly, of the systemic risk.