Safe and sound banks are key to a healthy US economy and are at the heart of promoting growth and development. Banks’ basic intermediary function of matching savers with investors is predicated on receiving deposits that can be transformed into loans. There is no rule of thumb for how large those deposits need to be for banks to best operate as financial intermediaries, and there are large differences among countries in that regard.

The FRED map shows data from the World Bank about the value of bank deposits by nation divided by the value of that nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). This is reported as a percent. During 2020, that figure had a median value of 64% but widely ranged between 9% (Tajikistan) and 429% (Luxembourg). Why such differences?

As mentioned above, a solid banking system helps promote economic growth and development, so economists argue that good access to finance is both part and parcel of prosperity. However, the specific relationship between financial development and economic growth continues to be the subject of active research. You can learn more about this topic from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

How this map created: Search FRED for “Bank Deposits to GDP for Nigeria” and click the “View Map” option. Next, click on “Edit Map” and select “Data grouped by: User Defined Method.” Change the data interval values and customize the colors for each interval to match those shown in the map.

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.