Statistics 2 May 2017 1:00 PM

Rapid growth in the volume of unsecured consumer credit

Growth in households' unsecured consumer credit1 (excl. overdrafts and credit card credit) from Finnish credit institutions has picked up significantly in the past 12 months, from 7.1% in March 2016 to 13.7% in March 2017. In addition, new drawdowns of unsecured consumer credit increased to an unprecedented EUR 242 million. The growth rate of secured consumer credit (excl. overdrafts and credit card credit), in turn, has been relatively steady in recent years, at around 2%.

Growth in unsecured consumer credit is partly explained by the interest rate on these loans, which has declined by almost 1 percentage point in 2016. In March 2017, the average interest rate on unsecured consumer credit was 4.97%, while that for secured consumer credit was 3.01%.

Changes have also been witnessed in loan repayment periods: the maturities of consumer credit have lengthened. In 2016, the average repayment period of unsecured consumer credit was 12 years, 3 months, compared with 7 years, 9 months in 2011. Repayment periods continued to lengthen in the early part of 2017, and in January–March the average repayment period of new drawdowns of unsecured consumer credit was 12 years, 8 months.

Loans

In March 2017, households’ new drawdowns of housing loans amounted to EUR 1.6 bn, which is almost EUR 0.2 bn more than in March 2016. The average interest rate on new housing-loan drawdowns was 1.13% and the imputed margin was 1,08%. At the end of March 2017, the stock of euro-denominated housing loans was EUR 94.3 bn. Household credit at end-March comprised EUR 14.7 bn in consumer credit and EUR 16.4 bn in other loans.

New drawdowns of loans to non-financial corporations (excl. overdrafts and credit card credit) amounted to EUR 2.2 bn in March 2017. The average interest rate on new corporate-loan drawdowns declined from February, to 1.79%. At the end of March, the stock of euro-denominated loans to non-financial corporations was EUR 77.5 bn, of which loans to housing corporations accounted for EUR 26.4 bn.

Deposits

At the end of March 2017, the stock of household deposits totalled EUR 85.3 bn, and the average interest rate on the deposits was 0.17%. Overnight deposits accounted for EUR 62.6 bn and deposits with agreed maturity for EUR 8.1 bn of the total deposit stock. In March, households concluded EUR 0.4 bn of new agreements on deposits with agreed maturity, at an average interest rate of 0.49%.

1 Unsecured consumer credit comprises uncollateralised loans and loans not fully covered by collateral.

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

  January, EUR million February, EUR million March, EUR million March, 12-month change1, % Average interest rate, %
Loans to households2, stock 124,963 125,014 125,383 2,7 1,54
    -   of which housing loans 93,998 94,075 94,279 2,3 1,06
Loans to non-financial corporations2, stock  76,114 76,584 77,548 6,6 1,44
Deposits by households2, stock 84,477 84,432 85,317 4,0 0,17
Households' new drawdowns of housing loans 1,212 1,325 1,599   1,13

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; non-financial corporations also include housing corporations

For further information, please contact
Johanna Honkanen, tel. + 358 9 183 2992, email: johanna.honkanen(at)bof.fi,
Olli Tuomikoski, tel. +358 9 183 2146, email: olli.tuomikoski(at)bof.fi,

The next news release will be published at 1 pm on 31 May 2017.

Related statistical data and graphs are also available on the Bank of Finland website:  https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/Statistics/mfi-balance-sheet/.

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