Press Releases

Interest Rates on Bank Deposits and Loans: February 2013

05/04/2013 - Press Releases

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

In February 2013, the overall average interest rates on both new deposits and new loans decreased (see Table 1). The interest spread between loan and deposit rates decreased by 4 basis points to 3.03 percentage points.

In the case of deposits, the average interest rates on overnight deposits from households and from non-financial corporations remained almost unchanged, in February 2013, at 0.48% and 0.49% respectively. The average interest rate on deposits from households with an agreed maturity of up to one year decreased further by 10 basis points to 4.49%. The overall average interest rate on all new deposits decreased by 5 basis points to 2.76%.

In the case of loans, the average interest rate on consumer loans without a defined maturity (a category which includes credit card debt, open account loans and debit balances on current accounts) remained almost unchanged, in February 2013, at 14.77%. On the contrary, the average interest rate on consumer loans with a defined maturity at a floating rate or with an initial rate fixation period of up to one year increased by 19 basis points to 8.10%.

The average interest rate on corporate loans without a defined maturity increased by 6 basis points to 7.52%, while the corresponding rate on loans to sole proprietors remained almost unchanged at 10.02%. 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 8 basis points to 7.36% for loans up to EUR 250,000, while for loans above EUR 250,000 and up to EUR 1 million it decreased by 13 basis points to 6.16% and for loans above EUR 1 million it decreased by 56 basis points to 5.84%. Finally, the average interest rate on housing loans at a floating rate or with an initial fixation period of up to one year increased by 5 basis points to 3.04%. In February 2013, the average interest rate on all new loans to households and corporations decreased by 9 basis points to 5.79%.

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

In February 2013, the overall average interest rates on the outstanding amounts of all deposits and of all loans exhibited marginal changes. The spread between loans and deposits remained almost unchanged at 2.85 percentage points (see Table 2).

In particular, in February 2013, the average interest rates on outstanding amounts of deposits from households and from non-financial corporations with an agreed maturity of up to two years remained almost unchanged at 4.56% and 4.51% respectively. The average interest rate on outstanding amounts of housing loans with over five years’ maturity remained basically unchanged at 3.21%, while the corresponding rate on corporate loans increased by 4 basis points to 4.66% and the rate on loans to sole proprietors increased by 3 basis points to 6.00%.

In February 2013, the overall average interest rates on all deposits (including overnight deposits) increased marginally to 2.97% and the corresponding rate on loans also increased slightly to 5.82%.

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

 

 

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

*For the calculation of this average rate the overnight deposits are also taken into account