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FMA Survey on Foreign Currency Loans in Q2 2018: proportion of FX loans to all loans falls to 10.2%. Outstanding volume: € 15.26 billion

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Adjusted for exchange rate effects, the outstanding volume of foreign currency loans (FX lending) to private households has fallen by EUR 32 billion or 68.8% up to 30 June 2018, since the introduction of the ban on granting of new loans in the autumn of 2008. The share of foreign currency loans in relation to all outstanding household loans fell to 10.2% during Q2 2018, a decrease of 2.6% year-on-year. At the foreign currency loan boom this share stood at 31.8%. These were the findings from the FMA’s Survey for the second quarter of 2018. The outstanding volume of foreign currency denominated loans to private households fell in absolute terms to € 15.26 billion at the end of the first half of 2018, a reduction of € 3.48 billion over the corresponding period of the preceding year.

Sustainable limitation of risk

“With our broad range of initiatives for limiting risk in foreign currency loans we have managed within ten years to reduce the percentage of foreign currency loans to all loans to private households from around one third to almost one tenth, and that without destroying the stability of the financial market and impacting the confidence of consumers and borrowers”, remarked the FMA’s Executive Board, Helmut Ettl and Klaus Kumpfmüller.

In the 2nd quarter of 2018 alone, adjusted for exchange rates effect, the volume of outstanding foreign currency loans fell by € 670 million, compared to a reduction of € 340 million during the 1st quarter. 96.1% of the outstanding foreign currency loans during the 2nd quarter were denominated in Swiss francs (the remainder is almost entirely denominated in Japanese yen), with the exchange rate during this period fluctuating between CHF 1.1496 and 1.1986 to the Euro. Since the boom in foreign currency loans in 2008, the Swiss franc has appreciated by 43.0%.

Journalists may address further enquiries to:

Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)

+43/(0)1/24959-5106

+43/(0)676/882 49 516