Results of the July 2013 euro area bank lending survey

The European Central Bank (ECB) is publishing its report on the results of the July 2013 euro area bank lending survey today. The bank lending survey, which is conducted four times a year, usually at the beginning of each quarter, was developed by the Eurosystem in order to enhance the understanding of bank lending behaviour in the euro area.

The results reported in the July 2013 survey relate to changes in the second quarter of 2013 and to expectations of changes in the third quarter of 2013. Four ad hoc questions were included in the questionnaire for the July 2013 survey, namely one addressing the impact of the financial turmoil on access to retail and wholesale funding, one on the impact of the sovereign debt crisis on banks’ funding conditions, credit standards and credit margins, and two on the likely impact of ongoing regulatory changes on banks’ lending policies (via the potential impact on the latter’s capital positions, credit standards and credit margins).

The July 2013 bank lending survey was conducted between 19 June and 4 July 2013. With 132 banks participating in the survey, the coverage ratio was 99%.

The report is available on the ECB’s website in the “Statistics” section under “Monetary and financial statistics”/“Surveys”/“Bank lending survey” ( http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/pdf/blssurvey_201307.pdf).

Detailed data series for the aggregate euro area results, as well as the country-level results in terms of net percentages and/or the diffusion index for 14 euro area countries, are available on the ECB’s website via the ECB’s Statistical Data Warehouse. In addition, the ECB’s website also provides links to the national results as published by the respective national central banks.