Results of the January 2008 bank lending survey for the euro area

The European Central Bank (ECB) is today publishing its report on the results of the January 2008 bank lending survey for the euro area. The bank lending survey has been developed by the Eurosystem in order to enhance the understanding of bank lending behaviour in the euro area.

The survey is conducted four times a year, usually at the beginning of each quarter. The conduct of the January 2008 survey was, however, brought forward by around one month in order to provide additional information to monitor the ongoing developments in financial markets. The survey also included a set of ad hoc questions which aim to gauge the extent to which the financial market tensions experienced in the second half of 2007 have affected banks’ credit standards for loans and credit lines to enterprises and loans to households in the euro area. The cut-off date for the receipt of data from banks participating in this survey was 8 January 2008.

The report is available on the ECB’s website at in the “Statistics” section under “Money, banking and financial markets”/“Bank lending survey”.