Cash is king, as it often is in times of crisis. Top financial services firms have been building their cash and near-cash positions, even as they face pressure to increase lending, notes Fortune. A recent article offers some examples of the newly cash rich. 

Goldman Sachs' core excess liquidity rose to $164 billion in the first quarter from $111 billion in the fourth quarter. Bank of America's cash on hand rose to $173 billion at the end of the first quarter from $33 billion at the end of the fourth quarter. At Morgan Stanley, cash or near-cash rose to $150 billion. "That's almost a quarter of its balance sheet -- which means the brokerage firm holds twice as much in cash as it did a year ago," says the Fortune article. 

A lot of this represents some of the anxiety over the stress tests. The ones that pass may see fit to deploy their cash a bit more aggressively, especially at Goldman Sachs. Or perhaps they are girding to repay TARP funds.

For more:
- here's the article

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