The measures taken by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) for limiting risks arising from foreign currency loans for private households are proving effective. The outstanding volume has fallen by EUR 30.28 billion or 65.3% adjusted for exchange rate effects up to the end of October 2017, since the introduction of the ban on granting of new loans in the autumn of 2008. Compared with Q3 2016 the volume of outstanding loans adjusted for exchange rate effects fell by EUR 3.48 billion or 16%; in comparison to the previous quarter the volume fell by EUR 790 million or 4.2%. In absolute terms, the volume of foreign currency lending to private households fell to EUR 17.11 billion in Q3 2017 (Q2 2017: € 18.74 billion, Q3 2016: € 21.59 billion). These were the findings of the FMA’s Survey on Foreign Currency Loans in Q3 2017.
The share of foreign currency loans in relation to all outstanding household loans fell to 11.6% in Q3 2017, a decrease of 3.4% year-on-year. At the foreign currency loan boom this share stood at 31.8%. Consequently the volume of foreign currency loans as a proportion of all outstanding loans to private households has fallen from approximately one third to around one ninth. As of the end of September 2017, 96.1% of the volume of the amount owed for loans in foreign currencies was for loans denominated in Swiss franc (CHF), with the remaining amount almost exclusively in Japanese yen (JPY).
Since the start of 2008, the Swiss franc (CHF) appreciated by 44.4% up until 30 September 2017 against the euro; in the third quarter of 2017, the exchange rate varied between 1.0943 and 1.1588, following the removal of the minimum exchange rate floor of 1.20 in January 2015.
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43/(0)1/24959-6006
+43/(0)676/882 49 516