• The Euroland bank lending survey shows that banks continued to tighten credit standards to both enterprises and households in the third quarter, but not by much. The situation has improved particularly strongly for lending to enterprises. 
  • The outlook for Q4 is even better. Banks expect a slight net easing of credit standards for enterprises indicating that a turn in the tightening cycle is imminent. 
  • The most important driving forces for the net tightening are expectations regarding general economic activity and the industry or firm-specific outlook. Banks’ access to market financing and banks’ liquidity position, contributed to an easing of credit standards for loans to enterprises. 
  • Demand for loans from enterprises is still declining, but at a slowing pace and is expected to remain essentially unchanged in Q4. Demand for loans from households for house purchases is now on the increase but banks are still tightening and a small share of banks expects further tightening in Q4. 
  • Banks still indicate that market access is hampered as a result of the financial turmoil, but considerably less than in Q2 and banks expects further improvements in access to financial markets in Q4. Banks noted that government support measures had a positive impact on banks’ access to funding but slightly less so in Q3 than in Q2. 
  • The data should give comfort to the ECB and we expect to see that the tone becomes slightly more positive (again) at next week’s press conference. Nevertheless, we have to wait for the December meeting to get any major new insights in the ECB’s plans for embarking on its exit strategy.