It's the banking world's version of the rich getting richer.

A record $2 trillion surge in cash hit the deposit accounts of U.S. banks since the coronavirus first struck the U.S. in January, according to FDIC data.

The wall of money flowing into banks has no precedent in history: in April alone, deposits grew by $865 billion, more than the previous record for an entire year.

The gains were all driven, in one way or another, by the response to the pandemic: The government unleashed hundreds of billions of dollars to bolster small businesses and individuals via stimulus checks and unemployment benefits. The Federal Reserve began a barrage of efforts to support financial markets, including an unlimited bond buying program. And an uncertain future prompted decision makers, from two-person households to global corporations, to horde cash.

More than two-thirds of the gains went to the 25 biggest institutions, according to the FDIC. And that was concentrated at the very top of the industry: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup, the biggest U.S. banks by assets, grew much faster than the rest of the industry in the first quarter, according to company data.

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But banks, which will be cautious lending money in the midst of a recession, are running out of uses for their growing mountain of cash, according to Foran.

"A lot of banks are saying, `There's frankly not much we can do with it right now'," he said. "They have more deposits than they know what to do with."

If the deposit boom is merely one sign of the steps taken to blunt the financial harm from the pandemic, it remains to be seen what the ultimate consequences are for the government's historic spending binge. Some experts see a collapse in the dollar coupled with higher inflation. Others see a stock market bubble in the making.

One consequence for savers will be more immediate, says Foran: Banks are sure to lower their already paltry interest rates, since they don't need more of your money.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/06/21/banks-have-grown-by-2-trillion-in-deposits-since-coronavirus-first-hit.html