Results of the April 2011 bank lending survey for the euro area

The European Central Bank (ECB) is publishing today its report on the results of the April 2011 bank lending survey for the euro area. The bank lending survey, which is conducted four times a year, usually at the beginning of each quarter, was developed by the Eurosystem in order to enhance the understanding of bank lending behaviour in the euro area.

The results reported in the April 2011 survey relate to changes in the first quarter of 2011 and expectations of changes in the second quarter of 2011. This survey round included one ad hoc question aimed at gauging the extent to which the situation in the financial markets is affecting banks’ credit standards for loans and credit lines to enterprises and for loans to households in the euro area. The April 2011 bank lending survey was conducted between 14 and 31 March 2011. In the first quarter of 2011 the size of the sample of banks surveyed was increased to 124 in order to include replies from Estonian banks for the first time.

The report is available on the ECB’s website (http://www.ecb.europa.eu) in the “Statistics” section under “Monetary and financial statistics”/“Surveys”/“Bank lending survey”.