Financial institutions (discontinued), Q2 2003

Lending to the public (municipalities, households and non-financial corporations) was NOK 1,640 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2002. Banks had a portion of 70 per cent of the loans to the public and increased their lending by 6.8 per cent. The second largest lender was finance and mortgage companies with a portion of 17 per cent. Their growth of lending to the public was 13.1 per cent compared with the 2^{n d} quarter of 2002.

Lower interest margin

The difference between weighted average interest rates on NOK loans to the public and weighted average interest rates on deposits from the public is the banks' interest margin. Norges Bank (The Central Bank of Norway) reports that the banks interest margin was 2.97 per cent at the end of the 2^{n d} quarter of 2003. This is 0.07 percentage points lower than a year ago. The interest rate on loans from commercial and saving banks declined by 1.48 percentage points from the second quarter of 2002 to 6.85 per cent in the second quarter of 2003. Interest rate on deposits went down by 1.92 percentage points to 3.88 per cent during the corresponding period.

Increased total assets

Norges Bank had the largest increase in per cent of its total assets. It increased by 43 per cent during the last year, amounting to NOK 1,374 billion. This includes investments by the Government Petroleum Fund. Commercial and savings bank total assets increased by 11.2 per cent to NOK 1,697 billion. Total assets for the financial institutions amounted to NOK 4,238 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2003. This is 19.1 per cent higher than in the 2^{n d} quarter 2002.