Deposit volumes in Irish banks remained stable in January at €154.3 billion, according to new figures released by the Department of Finance.

The department said deposits increased by €0.3 billion month-on-month. It attributed the increase in deposit volumes to strong retail inflows from the UK aided by a stronger exchange rate.

On an annual basis, deposit volumes were unchanged.

Deposits have increased by €14.3 billion since the recapitalisation of the banks was completed in July 2011.

Overall, the level of borrowing from the European Central Bank (ECB) by banks in Ireland increased marginally during January by €0.3 billion to €37.1 billion.

The increased usage of ECB funding by Irish banks was largely due to higher interbank market rates at the beginning of the year which led to banks across Europe easing the pace of repayment of long-term refinancing operations (LTROs) funding and availing of ECB’s main refinancing rate.

On a year-on-year basis the level of funding drawn from the ECB has reduced by €32.9 billion or 47 per cent. This represents a reduction of €99.3 billion or 73 per cent from its peak of €136.4 billion at end-November 2010.

Drawings from the ECB by banks covered by the guarantee scheme continued to decline during the month, with drawings down €2 billion. On an annual basis, borrowing from the ECB is down €20.9 billion to stand at c.€27.2 billion.

The share of total ECB funding by banks in Ireland has declined steadily from a peak in November 2010 of 26.5 per cent immediately after the bailout, to 5.4 per cent at the end of January.

The covered banks now account for 3.9 per cent of total Eurosystem funding, down from a peak of 18.8 per cent.