Financial corporations, balance sheet, August 2012

Total deposits in Norwegian banks amounted to NOK 2 686 billion at end-August 2012; an increase of NOK 2 billion, or 0.1 per cent, compared to the previous month. Total deposits have increased by 10.7 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Total deposits consist of deposits in transaction and other deposits. Other deposits amounted to NOK 1 632 billion, while deposits in transaction, or working accounts, amounted to NOK 1 054 billion. This accounted for 61 per cent and 39 per cent respectively. Other deposits increased by NOK 37 billion, or 2.3 per cent, compared to the previous month, while deposits in transaction were reduced by NOK 35 billion, or 3.2 per cent.

Summer vacation affects deposits from employees

Deposits from employees, social security recipients and students amounted to NOK 823 billion at the end of August 2012. This is a decrease of almost NOK 4 billion from July 2012. The deposit figures are usually affected by seasonal patterns. The decrease in deposits from employees, which stemmed from reduced deposits in transaction, was therefore expected in August. The deposits were scaled down to NOK 252 billion; a decrease of NOK 7 billion from the previous month.

Total deposits from employees have increased by NOK 70 billion, or 9.3 per cent, compared to the same period last year. Deposits in transaction and other deposits accounted for 31 per cent and 69 per cent of total deposits from employees respectively. Other deposits have increased faster than deposits in transaction from September 2010 on an annual basis. Annual growth for other deposits from employees was 10.4 per cent to end-June and to end-July. This was the highest annual growth since July 2009.

Increase in deposits from foreign banks and financial corporations

Foreign banks and financial corporations’ deposits in Norwegian banks amounted to NOK 814 billion at end-August 2012. The deposits increased by NOK 6 billion, or 0.7 per cent, from July to August. At the same time, foreign banks and financial corporations increased their deposits by 18.8 per cent compared to the same period last year. The share of deposits from foreign central banks peaked in December 2009 at 9 per cent. Since the beginning of 2010, this share dropped to 1.4 per cent in July 2011. The share subsequently increased steadily to its current level of 7.3 per cent.

Sixty-six per cent of foreign banks and financial corporations’ deposits in Norwegians banks are in foreign currency, while the rest is in NOK. All figures in the statistics are, however, reported in NOK, so fluctuations in foreign currencies will affect the figures from month to month.

Sharp increase in deposits from life insurance companies

Norwegian life insurance companies and mortgage companies increased their deposits in Norwegian banks by close to NOK 6 billion, or 24.2 per cent, in August 2012. With this, the deposits from life insurance companies amounted to NOK 30 billion at end-August 2012.

Norwegian banks increased their deposits in other Norwegian banks by NOK 4 billion, or 7.4 per cent, in August 2012. With this, interbank deposits amounted to almost NOK 65 billion at end-August 2012. Compared to the same period the previous year, interbank deposits have increased by almost NOK 18 billion, or 39.3 per cent. On the other hand, Norwegian credit institutions had a decrease of NOK 5 billion from the previous month and amounted to NOK 21 billion in August 2012.

The Norwegian Central Bank increased their deposits by NOK 700 million from July to August 2012. These figures, however, vary considerably from month to month.

Decrease in deposits from non-financial corporations

Non-financial corporations reduced their deposits in Norwegian banks by NOK 7 billion from July to August 2012. The share of private enterprises was 84.4 per cent, while their increase in deposits amounted to just NOK 1.2 billion in August. Municipal companies increased their deposits from the previous month, while state companies’ deposits were reduced. The largest decrease in deposits comes from public incorporated enterprises owned by central government. The decrease amounted to NOK 9 billion, or 20.6 per cent, from July to August 2012.