The outstanding balance of deposits and certificates of deposit at banks with nationwide branch networks -- known as city banks -- fell 1.6 percent in August from a year before, the first fall since March 1997, the Bank of Japan said in a preliminary report released Friday.
With the Aug. 11 termination of the central bank's policy of guiding the unsecured overnight call money rate to near zero, major depositor financial institutions, such as life insurance companies, shifted their funds from deposit accounts at such banks to the call money market, BOJ officials said.
According to the BOJ, the daily deposit and CD balance at these banks came to 226.06 trillion yen.