The amount outstanding in terms of foreign currency loans (FX loan volume) owed by Austrian households has continued to fall tangibly: As at the end of Q2 2012, € 35.6 billion had still to be repaid. After allowing for exchange rate fluctuations this represents a fall of € 3.7 billion or 9.5% compared with the previous year. The drop compared with Q1 2012 amounted to € 1.3 billion, or 3.7%. Compared with autumn 2008 – when the FMA imposed a ban on the award of new foreign currency loans along with other initiatives intended to limit the risk of outstanding FX loans – the total volume outstanding has decreased by € 12.0 billion after allowing for exchange rate fluctuations, or 25.3%. As a result, the volume of FX loans as a percentage of total loans to households fell to an eight-year low of 27% in mid 2012. 93.2% of FX loans is denominated in Swiss francs, and nearly all of the rest in Japanese yen. This was disclosed in the FMA’s Survey on Changes in Foreign Currency Loans in Q2 2012.
“This sustained and accelerating fall in the volume of foreign currency loans outstanding demonstrates that the measures imposed by the FMA to limit risk are taking effect, and that Swiss franc loans are increasingly being converted into euro loans. Another certain contribution is the fact that the Swiss National Bank is continuing to defend the position of the Swiss franc against the euro at the 1.20 mark, despite massive pressure for revaluation,” explained FMA Executive Directors Helmut Ettl and Kurt Pribil. Until the Swiss National Bank intervened, the Swiss franc had already increased in value against the euro by 37.5% since the outbreak of the global financial crisis at the start of 2008.
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43 (0)1 24959 5106
+43 (0)676 882 49 516