Eurozone lenders said their access to retail and wholesale funding across all funding categories improved in the third quarter, according to Bank Lending Survey from the European Central Bank.

Banks expect funding conditions to keep improving in the fourth quarter. The survey was conducted between September 20 and October 9 and 131 banks participated in it.

Banks tightened their credit standards for loans to enterprise and broadly maintained standards for household loans in the third quarter. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, banks expect a similar degree of net tightening in credit standards for loans to enterprises and households.

Turning to loan demand developments, there was a decline in demand for loans to enterprises. At the same time, the ongoing net decline in demand for loans to households for house purchase accelerated somewhat in the third quarter.

For the fourth quarter, banks expect a continued net decline in the demand for loans, both for enterprises and households, even if on balance less negative than in the third quarter of 2012, the survey showed.

RTTNews