Financial institutions (discontinued), Q4 2002

Lending to the public - municipalities, households and non-financial corporations - came to NOK 1 573 billion in 2002. Banks, which had a share of 70 per cent of the loans, increased their lending by 6 per cent. Finance and mortgage companies had the highest increase in lending by 8 per cent. Their share was 17 per cent in 2002.

Small changes of the interest margin

Norges Bank reports that the banks interest margin, which is defined as the difference between the weighted average interest rates on NOK loans to the public and weighted average interest rates on deposits from the public, was 2.98 per cent at the end of the 4^{t h} quarter of 2002. This is 0.03 percentage points higher than a year ago. The interest rate on loans from commercial and saving banks was 8.71 per cent in 2002, compared with 8.69 per cent in 2001. Interest rate on deposits was 5.73 per cent at the end of 2002, while it was 5.74 per cent in 2001. The interest margin went down by 0.06 percentage points from the 3^{r d} quarter 2002.

Increased total assets

Total assets for the financial institutions amounted to NOK 3 743 billion at the end of 2002. This is 8 per cent higher compared with 2001. Finance and mortgage companies had the largest increase of total assets, by 9 per cent. Commercial and saving banks raised their total assets by 8 per cent.