US EditionEuro zone banks tightening access to business credit, ECB survey shows
Euro zone banks surveyed 153 major lenders, with corporate credit tightening most in Germany and France due to economic uncertainty and trade policy concerns, ECB said.
- The European Central Bank's quarterly Bank Lending Survey published on Feb 3, 2026 found euro zone banks tightened corporate credit last quarter and expect further tightening.
- According to the European Central Bank, concerns about firms' outlook, lower risk tolerance, and trade policy uncertainty affected lending.
- Corporate lending shifted unevenly across countries, with standards tightening most in Germany and France while Italy and Spain saw no tightening, and banks eased mortgage standards mostly in France despite possible first-quarter reversal as demand rose slightly, the ECB said.
- Banks forecast sectoral loan demand will rise broadly, except for car manufacturing, wholesale, retail trade and commercial real estate, while mortgage demand increased on improved housing prospects, the ECB said.
- Across the euro zone, the ECB said lending growth to businesses and households has accelerated for years but still trails the pre-pandemic era, signaling a modest economic expansion.
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Euro zone banks tightening access to business credit, ECB survey shows
Euro zone banks tightened access to corporate credit last quarter and expect to see further tightening ahead due to widespread economic uncertainty, partly related to trade policies, the European Central Bank's quarterly Bank Lending Survey showed on Tuesday.
Banking prepares for a change that will affect its capital and liquidity The European Central Bank has repositioned the focus on the behaviour of the financial system after publishing the results of its quarterly survey on bank loans.The report for the fourth quarter of 2025 reflects an unexpected tightening of access to credit by banks in the euro area, a fact that has surprised analysts and supervisors.According to the ECB, financial instituti…
Among the leading eurozone economies, lending standards for companies were tightened in the period from October to December in Germany and France.
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