The 537 Sparkassen (savings banks), mainly owned by municipalities, and the 12 Landesbanken, regional banks owned by state governments and savings-banks associations, account for 39% of domestic retail and corporate deposits and 35% of bank lending.

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Meanwhile large banks in Germany, Switzerland and Britain have more cash than they can put to good use as corporate customers shift their deposits from weaker countries or smaller banks.

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Younger intelligent investors, for instance, invest more funds into high-risk assets, such as equities and commodities, while older investors invest more funds into low risk or no risk assets, such as government and corporate debt and bank deposits.

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Every year, from the end of 2001 to the end of 2005, personal loans grew by a third, deposits by 19% and corporate loans by a percentage in the mid-teens.

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The heist of bank deposits in Cyprus and the corporate bailouts in the United States a few years ago are the bitter, logical fruit of ideologies that exalt government power above property rights.

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On Wednesday, investors focused on worries about Spain, where deposits have been flowing out of retail and corporate bank accounts.

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Retail investors, desperate to find alternative sources of income in the face of record-low yields on bank deposits, are another source of demand for corporate bonds.

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These deposits were then used to inflate a domestic property bubble, to fund Greek corporate loans and to buy large quantities of Greek government bonds.

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Although they are now sitting on huge deposits, the banks are loth to use them to buy risky assets such as corporate bonds.

ECONOMIST: South Korean corporate finance