Banks Are Borrowing at Financial Crisis Levels. What It Means.

Banks continued to borrow from the Federal Reserve at historic levels approaching the 2008-2009 financial crisis in the past week.

They borrowed another $110.3 billion from the Federal Reserve’s primary lending window, down from the record $153 billion in the previous week, but still way above normal. The primary window is the traditional lending facility offered by the central bank, the lender of last resort. Banks also borrowed $53.7 billion under the Bank Term Funding Program, the freshly created lending program by the Fed to offer more cash at generous terms.