FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Bank in the euro zone expect demand for corporate loans, consumer credit and mortgages to rise further in the final three months of 2017, the European Central Bank said on Tuesday in its quarterly lending survey.
Demand for loans has been rising steadily for years as access to credit became easier, driven in part by increased competition among banks and cheap wholesale and retail funding.
In the last three months of the year, banks are set to keep their credit standards on corporate loans broadly unchanged but households' access to consumer credit and housing loans may ease further, the ECB said based on its poll of 134 banks.
In the third quarter, credit standards for corporate loans remained broadly unchanged, despite expectations for easing but they eased for mortgages and consumer loans, the ECB added.
"Competitive pressure, banks' risk perceptions, and cost of funds and balance sheet constraints had an easing impact on credit standards on loans to enterprises in the third quarter of 2017, while banks' risk tolerance had a tightening impact," the survey showed.