The Australian government announced the introduction of a guarantee over all retail deposits and select wholesale liabilities in mid October, one of the first of what has since turned into nineteen national governments to take this step.This step helped reverse the deposit outflows that were apparent at a handful of banks in September, including Suncorp and Macquarie, though BankWest continued to experience an outflow of funds.Banks in aggregate reported an increase of $9 billion in deposits from households and business during October compared with an increase of $17 billion in September.Suncorp reported inflows of $500 million, or about two per cent, to $17.5 billion in household and business deposits during the month, following two months of outflows.Macquarie Bank reported very strong growth in business deposits as at the end of October, up $1.4 billion, or 23 per cent over the month, largely reversing the outflow incurred over September. The bank's household deposits increased three per cent.Bank of Western Australia (which is being sold by HBOS to Commonwealth Bank) reported negligible growth over the month, with business and household deposits increasing $100 million to $29.6 billion.Of the major banks, National Australia Bank reported inflows of $6 billion, followed by ANZ (ANZ $3.9 billion), Westpac ($3.7 billion, including St George) and then Commonwealth with inflows of $3 billion.