Main Funding Methods Used by Banks

In recent years, many banks are experiencing a decrease in the traditional deposit funding sources and thus failed to keep up with the growth in bank assets. To make up for this decrease, banks supplemented their funding with less stable and more expensive funding instruments, together with cutting back on their holdings of cash and securities and selling or securitizing parts of their loan portfolio. These have increased the challenges that banks face in maintaining stability and profitable operations.
Banks Deposits
Bank deposits are the primary sources of money for banks as it includes the deposits made in a bank’s natural demographic market. Bank’s deposits are derived from banks regular customer base and are the most stable and least costly source of funding. Deposits ranges from small sources such as individual consumers saving account to large sources such as business checking and money market accounts.
Banks typically make a significant portion of their income off interest and fees associated with loans and other services that are made possible by core deposits. The greater the number of customers and core deposits the banks can attract, the more its ability to loan out money and generate income. The greater a bank’s income, the bigger it can grow and more products and services it can offer. A higher core deposit boosts a bank’s performance by providing stable and predictable funding and indicates strong liquidity of a bank.
The traditional deposits-based bank funding model has been under strain due to intense competition for household saving, among banks and from alternative investment institution (mutual funds, life insurance products, etc.). The current banking crisis will likely have a prolonged effect on deposits. Investors that supplied funds may have suffered a major loss in one market or may have changed their beliefs about banks (reputational risk). As a result, these investors shifted funds to low-risk assets such as Government bonds.