The outstanding volume of foreign currency loans extended to households had declined by € 27.1 billion or 50.4% (exchange rate adjusted) by 31 March 2015 since the ban on new FX lending was introduced in the autumn of 2008. The diverse initiatives taken by the Financial Market Authority (FMA) to limit the risk associated with foreign currency lending are thus proving their sustained effectiveness. Compared with the first quarter of 2014, the outstanding volume of foreign currency loans has thus dropped by € 4.4 billion or 14.2%. In Q1 2015 alone, the outstanding volume fell by € 1.6 billion or 5.5% (all figures exchange rate adjusted). This information was disclosed in the FMA Q1 2015 Survey on Changes in Foreign Currency Loans.
The share of foreign currency loans in all outstanding household loans had dropped to 19.3% by the end of Q1 2015, which is 0.9 percentage points less than a year earlier. At the peak of FX lending, this share had amounted to 31.8%. At the end of March 2015, the majority (96.6%) of outstanding FX loans continued to be denominated in Swiss francs (CHF), with the rest almost exclusively in Japanese yen.
The volume of foreign currency loans held by households rose to € 26.7 billion in absolute terms, however, due to the upsurge of the CHF exchange rate following the Swiss National Bank’s lifting of the 1.20 pegging on 15 January 2015. From early 2008 to 31 March 2015, the Swiss frank had appreciated by 58.1%, with the exchange rate having fluctuated rather heavily between 0.98 and 1.08 since then.
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43/(0)1/24959-6006
+43/(0)676/882 49 516