Bankitalia took its monthly snapshot of the state of Italy's banking system in August. The result is a portrait in step with the times, contradictory and discontinuous, made up of negative data, such as the collapse of business loans and the increase in bank non-performing loans, alternating with others going in the opposite direction, such as the fall in interest rates and the good performance of bond funding.
Turning to bare numbers, in August, loans to non-financial companies recorded a drop of 1,9% on a year-on-year basis and 1% compared to the month of July, but more generally, it is the loans to the entire private sector (-0,2% compared to August 2011). The growth rate of loans to households is also slowing down, from +0,6% in July to the current +0,4%.
One positive trait, however, can be gleaned from the general trend in interest rates in August. Specifically, the rates on new loans to non-financial companies fell from 3,61% in July to 3,34% in August, while those on mortgage loans to households recorded a slight decrease, to 4,21% from 4,23, 9,72%. Minimum changes for consumer credit disbursements (from 9,71% in July to 1,24%) and for borrowing rates on total outstanding deposits (from 1,25% to XNUMX%).
Negative signals, on the other hand, come from the twelve-month growth rate of bank non-performing loans, which reached 15,6%, from 15,4% in July. Private sector deposits grew by 3,5% year-on-year (2,2% in July). Bond funding performed well, with a growth rate of 13% over the twelve months.
