Press Releases

Interest Rates on Bank Deposits and Loans: December 2010

09/02/2011 - Press Releases

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

In December 2010 the average interest rates on the most important categories of new deposits remained basically unchanged or slightly increased, while the interest rates on housing and consumer loans remained basically unchanged. On the other hand the interest rates on corporate loans and loans to sole proprietors increased significantly (see Table 1).

More specifically, the average interest rates on overnight deposits from households and non-financial corporations remained basically unchanged at 0.50% and 0.36% respectively in December 2010. The average interest rate on deposits from households with an agreed maturity of up to 1 year slightly increased by 3 basis points to 3.68%.

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 basically unchanged at 14.40% in December 2010. On the other hand, both the average interest rate on corporate loans (1) without a defined maturity and the corresponding rate on loans to sole proprietors increased significantly by 17 and 10 basis points to 6.79% and 9.57% respectively. Likewise, 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 18 basis points to 6.32% for loans up to EUR 1 million, while the one for loans above EUR 1 million increased by 4 basis points to 4.95%. On the other hand both the average interest rate on housing loans at a floating rate or with an initial rate fixation period of up to one year and the corresponding rate on loans with an initial fixation period of over 1 and up to 5 years remained basically unchanged to 3.65% and 3.95% respectively.

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

In December 2010 the average interest rate on the outstanding amounts of deposits from households and housing loans remained basically unchanged. On the other hand, the interest rates on the outstanding amounts of deposits from non-financial corporations and the ones on the outstanding amounts on corporate loans and loans to sole proprietors increased (Table 2).

In particular, the average interest rate on outstanding amounts of deposits from households with an agreed maturity of up to 2 years remained basically unchanged in November 2010 at 3.47%, while the corresponding rate on deposits from non-financial corporations increased by 6 basis points to 3.61%. The average interest rate on outstanding amounts of housing loans with over five years’ maturity remained basically unchanged at 3.67%, while the corresponding rates on corporate loans increased by 7 basis points to 4.75% and on loans to sole proprietors increased by 6 basis points to 5.48%.

 

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

(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, farmers and unincorporated partnerships are not included in corporate loans, but constitute an independent sub-category of loans, referred to as loans to ‘sole proprietors’.