Statistics 27 February 2015 1:00 PM

Continued decrease in household deposits with agreed maturity

The stock of household deposits with agreed maturity decreased by EUR 2.2 bn year-on-year, to EUR 13.0 bn at the end of January 2015. Households have transferred their investments to investment funds producing higher yields and to overnight deposits affording easier transferability. The stock of overnight deposits, in fact, increased by EUR 2.8 bn year-on-year, to EUR 54.9 bn at the end of January 2015.

The decline in deposits with agreed maturity has been partly due to their low interest rates. In January, the rate of interest paid on deposits with agreed maturity was 1.14%, compared with 1.32% in the same period a year earlier. The rate of interest on overnight deposits in January was 0.22%. The interest rate has dropped by 0.03 percentage point in a year. Although the interest rate is close to zero, customers have preferred to put money into accounts from which it is quickly transferable. Nor are people willing to have their deposits linked to low interest rates for longer periods of time.


Loans

In January 2015, households' new drawdowns of housing loans amounted to EUR 1.0 bn. The average interest rate on new housing-loan drawdowns was 1.66%, slightly down on December. The stock of euro-denominated housing loans totalled EUR 89.8 bn at the end of January, and the annual growth rate of the stock was 1.8 %. At the end of January, household credit comprised EUR 13.5 bn in consumer credit and EUR 15.6 bn in other loans.

New drawdowns of loans to non-financial corporations (excl. overdrafts and credit card credit) amounted in January to EUR 1.9 billion, which is as much as in January 2014. The average interest rate on new corporate-loan drawdowns increased slightly from December, to 2.50%. At the end of January, the stock of euro-denominated loans to non-financial corporations was EUR 68.8 bn, of which loans to housing corporations accounted for EUR 21.3 bn.


Deposits

At the end of January, the stock of household deposits totalled EUR 81.2 bn, and the average interest rate on the deposits was 0.37%. Overnight deposits accounted for EUR 54.9 bn and deposits with agreed maturity for EUR 13.0 bn of the total deposit stock. In January, households concluded EUR 0.8 bn of new agreements on deposits with agreed maturity. The average interest rate on these was 1.05%.

Notes: 
MFIs comprise all monetary financial institutions operating in Finland. 
Loans and deposits comprise all euro-denominated loans and deposits vis-à-vis the euro area as a whole, with countries other than Finland accounting for a very small share of total volumes.

Key figures of Finnish MFIs' loans and deposits, preliminary data

  November, EUR million December, EUR million January, EUR million January, 12-month change1, % Average interest rate, %
Loans to households2, stock 118,989 118,807 118,859 1,8 1,88
    - of which housing loans 89,781 89,762 89,772 1,8 1,43
Loans to non-financial corporations2, stock  67,934 68,336 68,805 6,9 1,83
Deposits by households2, stock 80,435 80,812 81,249 0,0 0,37
Households' new drawdowns of housing loans 1,217 1,199 0,981 1,66

1 Rate of change has been calculated from monthly differences in levels adjusted for classification and other revaluation changes. 
2 Households also include non-profit institutions serving households.
3 Non-financial corporations also include housing corporations.

For further information, please contact:
Johanna Honkanen, tel. +358 10 831 2992, email: johanna.honkanen(at)bof.fi,
Anne Turkkila, tel. +358 10 831 2175, email: anne.turkkila(at)bof.fi.

The next news release will be published at 1 pm on 31 March 2015.
Related statistical data and graphs are also available on the Bank of Finland website:
http://www.suomenpankki.fi/link/2331b6266da3492f832ec75e0f654bd9.aspx?epslanguage=en.

You can also subscribe to the monthly Loans, deposits and interest rates –newsletter to your email from the Bank of Finland website