Depositors continue to withdraw their money from Irish banks

Nervous depositors are continuing to take their money out of Irish banks. The Irish Independent reports that new Central Bank figures show €525m was withdrawn between April and June on top of €1.6bn in the previous three months.

This brings the total amount of deposits withdrawn from Irish banks this year to the end of June to €5.3bn.

This week, the IMF warned that European banks, including those in Ireland, could suffer dangerous withdrawals of cash if bank funding markets seize up due to the euro crisis.

There were €87bn in deposits owned by private individuals at Irish banks in June, down 1pc on the previous quarter. The scale of cash that was withdrawn from the Irish banks was much lower than the 1.8pc drop in the previous three months.

Figures show that banks are lending less money to personal customers, with the total amount of loans, including mortgages, at €156.1bn at the end of June.

The figures also show the number of mortgages being granted continued to slump, down 2.2pc, the sixth quarterly decline in a row.