Press Releases

Interest Rates on Bank Deposits and Loans: January 2015

04/03/2015 - Press Releases

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

In January 2015, the overall weighted average interest rate on new deposits decreased marginally, while the corresponding rate on new loans increased marginally. The interest rate spread* between loan and deposit rates increased by 6 basis points from the previous month to 3.94 percentage points (see Table 1).

In more detail, the overall weighted average interest rate on all new deposits decreased marginally by 3 basis points to 1.12%. In particular, the average interest rate on overnight deposits from households decreased marginally by 3 basis points from the previous month to 0.18%, while the corresponding rate from non-financial corporations remained almost unchanged at 0.27%. The average interest rate on deposits from households, with an agreed maturity of up to one year, remained almost unchanged at 1.80%.

The overall weighted average interest rate on all new loans to households and corporations increased marginally by 3 basis points to 5.06%.

More specifically, the average interest rate on consumer loans without a defined maturity (a category which includes credit card debt, open account loans and overdrafts) remained almost unchanged at 14.53%. 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 64 basis points to 7.38%.

The average interest rate on corporate loans without a defined maturity decreased by 7 basis points from the previous month to 6.41%. The corresponding average interest rate to sole proprietors also decreased by 7 basis points to 8.02%. 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 on loans up to €250,000 decreased by 54 basis points to 5.43%, on loans over €250,000 and up to €1 million remained almost unchanged at 5.23% and on loans over €1 million increased by 47 basis points to 5.22%. Finally, the average interest rate on housing loans at a floating rate or with an initial rate fixation period of up to one year decreased by 50 basis points to 2.44%.

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

In January 2015, the overall weighted average interest rate on outstanding amounts of all deposits decreased, while the corresponding rate on loans remained almost unchanged. The spread* between loan and deposit rates increased by 8 basis points to 4.01 percentage points (see Table 2).

In further detail, the overall weighted average interest rate on the outstanding amount of all deposits (including overnight deposits) decreased by 10 basis points from the previous month to 1.20%, while the corresponding rate on loans remained almost unchanged at 5.21%.

In particular, the average interest rate on outstanding amounts of deposits from households with an agreed maturity of up to 2 years decreased by 7 basis points to 2.04%, while the corresponding rate on deposits from non-financial corporations decreased by 8 basis points to 1.86%. The average interest rates on outstanding amounts of housing loans and loans to sole proprietors with over 5 years’ maturity remained almost unchanged at 2.84% and 5.50% respectively. The average interest rate on outstanding amounts of corporate loans with over 5 years’ maturity was 4.31% in January 2015 from 4.34% in the previous month.

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

 

*The interest rate spread is the difference between the overall weighted average rate on all loans and the overall weighted average rate on all deposits.
**For the calculation of this average rate the overnight deposits are also taken into account.