Press Releases

Interest Rates on Bank Deposits and Loans : August 2010

01/10/2010 - Press Releases

1. INTEREST RATES ON NEW EURO-DENOMINATED DEPOSITS AND LOANS

In August 2010 the average interest rates on the most important categories of new deposits remained broadly stable, while the rates on new loans showed mixed developments (see Table 1).

More specifically, the average interest rates on overnight deposits from households and non financial corporations remained almost unchanged in August 2010 at 0.44% and 0.32% respectively. On the contrary, the average interest rate on deposits from households with an agreed maturity of up to 1 year decreased by 5 basis points to 3.66%.

As far as interest rates on loans are concerned, the average interest rate on consumer loans(1) without a defined maturity (a category which includes credit card debt, open account loans, and debit balances on current accounts) remained basically unchanged at 14.31%. The average interest rate on corporate loans without a defined maturity further increased significantly in August 2010 by 23 basis points to 6.56%. The average interest rate on loans to sole proprietors without a defined maturity also increased by 4 basis points to 9.11%. The average interest rate on corporate loans with a defined maturity at a floating rate or with an initial rate fixation period of up to one year increased by 13 basis points to 5.87% for loans up to EUR 1 million but decreased by 22 basis points to 4.51% for loans above EUR 1 million. The average interest rate on housing loans at a floating rate or with an initial rate fixation period of up to one year increased further by 13 basis points in August 2010 to 3.67%. On the contrary, the average interest rate on housing loans with an initial fixation period of over 1 and up to 5 years further decreased by 19 basis points to 4.33%.

2. INTEREST RATES ON OUTSTANDING AMOUNTS OF EURO-DENOMINATED DEPOSITS AND LOANS

In August 2010 the average interest rates on outstanding amounts of the most important categories of deposits slightly increased while the rates on outstanding amounts of loans showed mixed developments (Table 2).

In particular, the average interest rates on deposits from both households and non-financial corporations with an agreed maturity of up to 2 years increased in August 2010 by 6 and 3 basis points respectively to 3.37% and 3.58%. The average interest rate on housing loans with over five years’ maturity decreased slightly by 3 basis point to 3.64%, while the average interest rate on corporate loans with over five years’ maturity and the corresponding rate on loans to sole proprietors remained broadly unchanged at 4.35% and 5.32% respectively.

Table 1: Interest rates on new euro-denominated deposits and loans

Table 2: Average interest rates on outstanding amounts of euro-denominated deposits and loans

Note: The next press release concerning the data for September 2010 is going to be published on 3/11/2010.

(1) Corporate loans include only loans to non-financial corporations. It should also be noted that data have been revised and, as of June 2010, loans to sole proprietors are not included in corporate loans but constitute an independent sub-category of loans.