The CNB launches bank lending surveys

The CNB is launching regular surveys of credit market conditions in the banking sector. The Bank Lending Survey will take place four times a year and the results will be published in late January, April, July and October.

Eighteen banks and foreign bank branches, accounting for more than 90% of the banking credit market, participated in the first round of the survey in late June and early July. The results show that banks tended to tighten credit standards for corporate loans and consumer credit in Q2, while easing them for house purchase loans. Demand for bank loans increased overall. In Q3, banks expect a further tightening of standards, a rise in demand for corporate and house purchase loans, and a decline in demand for consumer credit.

In many countries, Bank Lending Surveys are a standard tool allowing central banks and other users to obtain valuable information about developments in the bank credit market above and beyond regular reporting data. When preparing the new survey, the CNB was inspired by the best practice of foreign central banks, while taking into account specific Czech conditions and experience gained in the pilot round.

The qualitative information obtained by the CNB in the form of a questionnaire directly from a representative sample of banks focuses on both the credit supply side (credit standards and terms and conditions for approving loans as stipulated by banks) and the credit demand side (demand for loans among households and corporations as perceived by banks) and assesses the most significant factors underlying changes in supply or demand. As in other central banks, the CNB survey covers not only the observed evolution of credit standards and credit demand in the previous quarter, but also the expected developments in the three months ahead.

Detailed information about the survey results is available in a publication on the CNB website.

Marek Petruš, CNB spokesman