The surge of deposits moving from smaller banks to big institutions including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo amid fears over the stability of regional lenders has slowed to a trickle in recent days, CNBC has learned.

The situation, which roiled markets globally and forced U.S. regulators to intervene to protect bank customers, began improving around March 16, according to people with knowledge of inflows at top institutions. That’s when 11 of the biggest American banks banded together to inject $30 billion into First Republic, essentially returning some of the deposits they’d gained recently.

[SVB got caught with its pants down on its bond assets. So did Signature Bank and Credit Suisse, apparently. The next few weeks will be key to seeing just how badly smaller and regional banks prepared for the inevitable rate hikes that followed the beginning of the inflationary wave that started almost exactly two years ago. If the Fed holds off on future interest rate hikes for a while and lets banks tighten money access on their own to stabilize their balance sheets, the worst of this may be behind us. — Ed]