banks in the us increased borrowing from the federal reserve for the second week in a row signaling that strains on the financial system havent gone away borrowing rose by 113 billion to 1552 billion in the seven days ended april 26 up from 1439 billion in the prior week the fed reported thursday a number of small to midsized banks have borrowed from an emergency program set up by the fed to prevent failures and stabilize the us financial system the fed created the new lending mechanism after the demise of silicon valley bank in early march the most recent data suggest lingering stress on the financial