Spanish deposit flight continues in August

FRANKFURT, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Consumers and firms continued to pull their money out of Spanish banks in August but at a slower speed than in July, with private sector deposits falling slightly more than 1 percent as Spain was sucked into the centre of the euro zone debt crisis.

Private-sector deposits at Spanish banks fell to 1.492 trillion euros at end-August from 1.509 trillion euros in the previous month, hitting their lowest point since April 2008.

However, Greek banks deposits remained relatively stable in August for the second month in a row after June elections decreased the worst fears of the country dropping out of the common currency bloc, European Central Bank data showed on Thursday.

Private-sector deposits in Greek banks decreased less than half a percent, after a rise of about 2 percent in the previous month.

The total fell to 158.7 billion euros at end-August from 159.4 billion euros a month earlier, but is still one-third below the peak in December 2009.

Ireland posted a 1-percent increase in deposits while Portuguese banks saw them fall less than 1 percent in August. Deposits were flat in Italy.

Monthly fluctuations in the figures are common, though sharp consecutive drops in countries with stable banking systems are unusual.

The data, which are for all currencies combined, are not seasonally adjusted and differ slightly from national central bank figures. The measure excludes deposits from central government and financial institutions. (Reporting by Sakari Suoninen and Eva Kuehnen; Editing by Toby Chopra)