© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An eagle tops the U.S. Federal Reserve building’s facade in Washington, July 31, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
(Reuters) – U.S. banks are facing continued pressure on their net interest margins (NIM) despite expected rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, according to research and data analytics firm S&P Global Market Intelligence. The firm stated on Wednesday that relief for banks with compressed NIMs due to higher funding costs is unlikely to come before the end of 2024.
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes have led customers to seek higher-yielding alternatives to bank deposits, such as money market funds.
To counter this trend, banks have offered higher interest rates on deposits, leading to increased costs for an industry already contending with a slowdown in loan demand as borrowing becomes more expensive.
According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, analysts anticipate NIM compression for 16 of the 20 largest U.S. banks in 2024, with a median decline of 14 basis points for the group.
NIM measures a bank’s profitability by showing how much it earns in interest on loans compared to what it pays depositors.