Profits and Balance Sheet Developments at U.S. Commercial Banks in 2008
Figure 16. Bank holdings of securities as a proportion of total bank assets, 1990-2008.
Data are plotted as a curve. Bank holdings of securities as a proportion of total bank assets begins in 1990 at about 19 percent, rising steeply to peak at nearly 26 percent by the end of 1993, then dropping sharply to about 22 percent by the beginning of 1995, then, on balance, declining to about 19 percent by the beginning of 2001. The series climbs to nearly 24 percent in 2004, then declines, on balance, to end 2008 at about 18 percent.
NOTE: The data are quarterly.