JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co have showed again that the largest banks of US cannot get enough productive use for billions of dollars in customer deposits.

For the first time Wells Fargo's margin dropped below 3% since at least 1994 and JPMorgan's dropped to 2.07%. The margin compression at two of the four largest US banks gives additional evidence that lenders are working hard under Federal Reserve policies that have pegged interest rates near zero since 2008 New York-based JPMorgan told some clients that it doesn't want their deposits. The lenders also show a further decrease in net interest margin.

"Deposit growth is a great problem longer-term, but as long as rates stay low, it's unfortunate because you have all this liquidity washing around with nowhere to go", said R. Scott Siefers, an analyst at Sandler O'Neill & Partners.

Total deposits at Wells Fargo mounted $28.4 billion from the fourth quarter to $1.2 trillion on March 31, whereas total deposits at JPMorgan climbed $4.46 billion to $1.37 trillion. Wells Fargo Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf said that they are strengthening customer relationship in the quarter.

Stumpf has put efforts to put deposits to work, involving purchasing loan portfolios from competitors. Last week, the bank has decided to acquire performing mortgages on commercial real estate in the US, UK and Canada from General Electric Co.

Lenders have also tried to separate customers into segments, with JPMorgan discouraging extra cash held in client accounts. According to both firms, they are happy to accept deposits from consumers, considered more loyal and a cheaper source of funding.

According to JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake, the actions of the firm must stabilize net interest margins. The bank is also planning to charge institutional clients like hedge funds for certain deposits.