MADRID, 9 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Euro zone commercial banks reported "for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2021" a moderate easing of their criteria for lending to households for home purchases, according to the European Central Bank's bank lending survey ( ECB).

According to the consultation, carried out between February 29 and March 15 among 157 banks, this net easing occurred after banks reported a slight tightening of credit standards in the previous quarter and in contrast to the tightening they anticipated the banks.

Competition and risk tolerance of the entities were the main drivers of this relaxation of credit standards for the granting of mortgage loans.

Likewise, the ECB highlights that the relaxation of banking credit criteria for mortgage loans was largely driven by French banks, although it also materialized in several smaller countries. Of the other three major economies, German banks reported a net adjustment and Spanish and Italian banks reported unchanged lending standards.

For businesses, euro area banks reported a small net tightening of their credit standards for loans or lines of credit in the first quarter of 2024, although at a lower intensity than banks had previously expected. while the criteria for granting consumer credit and other loans to households were also tightened again.

For the second quarter of 2024, banks expect a moderate net adjustment for lending to businesses and unchanged credit standards for lending to households.

From the point of view of demand, the entities reported a new substantial decrease in the demand for credit by companies and a small decrease in the demand for mortgages by individuals, while the demand for consumer loans and Other loans to households remained broadly stable in the first quarter of 2024.

"As has happened in recent quarters, higher interest rates, as well as lower fixed investment by companies and lower consumer confidence in households, exerted mitigating pressure on loan demand," explains the ECB. .

In this sense, the institution highlights that the substantial decrease in demand for loans by companies contrasted with the previous expectations of stabilization managed by banks.

Looking ahead to the second quarter of 2024, euro zone banks expect a moderate net decrease in demand for loans to businesses and a net increase in demand for loans to households in the second quarter of 2024.

Elsewhere, surveyed banks reported a new markedly positive impact of the ECB's interest rate decisions on their net interest margins over the past six months, although the cumulative impact is expected to decline over the next six months. .

At the same time, a substantial net portion of banks continued to report a negative impact across volumes, although they found that the increase in margins outweighed the volume effect, resulting in a high percentage of banks reporting a positive impact. on its net interest income and overall profitability.

For their part, banks reported virtually unchanged impacts on net fee income and capital losses, which were reflected in a similar evolution in banks' non-interest income.

"Euro area banks expect the cumulative net impact of the ECB's interest rate decisions on bank profitability to decrease over the next six months," the survey states, while, in the case of volumes, The entities also expect an additional negative impact, although smaller.