The outstanding volume of foreign currency loans to domestic private households stood at € 37.3 billion as at the end of Q4 2011 (compared with €38.7 billion in Q4 2010). Foreign currency loans thus represent a 28.4% share of the total amount owed by households (30.2% in Q4 2010). Adjusted for exchange rate effects, the volume subsequently decreased by € 9.8 billion or 20.8% compared with late 2008 – when the FMA imposed a ban on new foreign currency loans. Swiss franc loans account for 93.4% of the existing volume outstanding, while the remainder is accounted for almost entirely by loans in JPY. The news was disclosed in the first Quarterly Survey on Changes in the Volume of Foreign Currency Loans, published today by the Financial Market Authority FMA.
“The ban on new foreign currency loans, which de facto may now be granted only for assets or income in the particular foreign currency, as well as the measures that were recommended and introduced to limit the risk entailed in this form of foreign currency speculation, are showing the desired effect,” FMA Executive Directors Kurt Pribil and Helmut Ettl noted, adding: “We call upon banks and their customers to jointly and consistently continue to pursue this path towards limiting risk.”
Compared with the previous quarter, the volume of foreign currency loans decreased by € 1.0 billion or 2.6% when adjusted for exchange rate effects. A comparison with Q4 of 2010 reveals a drop of € 2.6 billion or 6.5%.
About three quarters of the foreign currency loans owed by households are bullet loans involving repayment vehicles. Expressed in absolute figures, this amounts to a loan volume of € 28.6 billion. The special survey conducted in 2011 to examine changes in repayment vehicles revealed a shortfall in cover which had grown to about € 5.3 billion, corresponding to approximately 18% of the currently outstanding loan volume. The comparable figure at the end of 2008 was € 4.5 billion, or 14% of the outstanding loan volume. The gap in cover increased by € 800 million in the interim, which represents a 22% increase in the shortfall.
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43/(0)1/24959-5106
+43/(0)676/882 49 516