EUR: Lending to businesses improved - BBH

Research Team at BBH, notes that the ECB's Bank Lending Survey found that lending to businesses improved and attributed this credit to its stimulative measures.

Key Quotes

“It reported that lending standards relaxed while demand increased. While demand for mortgages increased, lending standards had unexpectedly tightened. The ECB concluded that banks had used the extra liquidity generated by the central bank’s asset purchases to boost lending.

The survey gave the ECB an opportunity to evaluate its efforts until now. It found that the asset purchases are having a negative impact on bank profitability (over the past six months). The negative deposit rate did encourage lending, especially to households, while negatively impacting net interest income and loan margins.”