Italian banks see 14 bln euro drop in deposits in March

MILAN, May 10 (Reuters) – Italian savers shifted 14.3 billion euros ($15.7 billion) out of deposits with domestic banks in March, while lenders continued to shrink credit to businesses and stepped up bond sales to make up for the lost funding, data showed on Wednesday.

Deposits with Italian banks stood at 2,629.4 billion euros in March, down from 2,643.7 billion the month before, Bank of Italy’s data showed.

Current account deposits fell by 15.5 billion euros, while timed deposits with an up to 2 year maturity increased by 8.8 billion.

($1 = 0.9084 euros)