At the end of last year, Irish resident banks held "just over €5.6 billion" in current account balances and "just under €97 billion" on deposit at the Central Bank, according to correspondence sent from the Bank to Sinn Féin’s Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty TD.
The rate on those deposits was 2.5%.
This rate was raised further at the last ECB meeting earlier this month to 3%.
Any amounts deposited by banks above their required levels of reserves get zero interest.
The correspondence doesn’t reveal if the deposit amounts were at or above this level.
The letter states that interest rates on household overnight deposits was 0.03% in December, compared to a euro area average of 0.07%.
Rates on term deposits were 0.63% compared to a euro area average of 1.44%.
€148.6 billion was held on deposit by Irish households in banks and credit unions at the end of December.
The vast majority, €139.1 billion, was in overnight deposits and €9.4 billion in term deposits.
Colm Kincaid, the Central Bank’s Director of Consumer Protection, writes in the letter that the difference between overnight and term rates "is typical of rate hiking periods" and that he would expect to see more savings going into term deposits over time.
He says deposit rates both in the euro area and in Ireland "have been sluggish in response to rising policy rates."
In a statement, Pearse Doherty TD said: "The banks can’t have it both ways. As a result of the withdrawal of Ulster Bank and KBC, there is a risk that banks, owing to less competition, will continue to squeeze savers. Irish banks should not continue to bolster their profits at the expense of savers."
On mortgages, the correspondence points out that while rates on new fixed mortgages is now below the euro area average, the weighted average interest rate on outstanding mortgages in Ireland was 2.88% at the end of December.
The euro area average was 1.89%.
The correspondence also explains some of the detail on rates charged to the 113,688 mortgage holders whose loans are with the non-banks, including credit servicing firms.
It says that for borrowers with split mortgages, where for example 50% of the loan is "warehoused" or set aside under an "Alternative Repayment Agreement" or ARA, then the headline rate of 6% might effectively be 3%.
The letter also says that in dealing with long term mortgage arrears, borrowers with loans at non-banks and credit servicing firms are not at "any disadvantage" when it comes to dealing with their arrears.
However, in his statement Deputy Doherty disagreed with this conclusion: "It is without doubt that these borrowers are at a distinct disadvantage – with no option to fix, no option to switch, and many of these funds not offering the full suite of forbearance measures offered by retail banks."
In reference specifically to customers who came under the tracker mortgage examination, the Bank’s letter states "such a borrower should be in the same position as other borrowers" when it comes to switching.
However, it also says that if the Deputy had "specific scenarios or experiences" that he wished to highlight, the Bank would consider them.
