Details of the ECB April bank lending survey 19 April
- Improving loan supply conditions for enterprises and the continued increase in loan demand across all loan categories are supporting the ongoing recovery in loan growth.
- Credit standards on loans to households for house purchase tightened.
- Further compression of lending rates for all loan categories.
- Banks mainly use the liquidity obtained from the ECB's expanded asset purchase programme for lending.
- The ECB's negative deposit facility rate is having a positive impact on lending volumes, while having a negative impact on banks' net interest income and loan margins.
- Euro area banks still assess their current level of credit standards on both loans to enterprises and housing loans as tighter compared with the historical range since 2003
Net demand for loans continued to increase across all loan categories, especially for housing loans. The low general level of interest rates and favourable housing market prospects contributed most to the increase in housing loan demand. For loans to enterprises, the rise in demand can be attributed to financing needs for working capital, the low level of interest rates, M&A activity and fixed investment.
Regarding euro area banks' access to retail and wholesale funding, access to debt securities markets deteriorated in the first quarter of 2016, while access to securitisation improved.
Full report here
