Financial institutions (discontinued), Q2 2004

Lending to the public (municipalities, households and non-financial corporations) amounted to NOK 1 772 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2004. Lending from banks rose by 8.8 per cent, and the banks have 70 per cent of the market. Finance and mortgage companies have the second largest share of the market, at a stable18 per cent.

Falling interest margin

The interest rate margin is defined as the difference between the weighted average interest rates loans in NOK to the public and the weighted average interest rates on deposits from the public. The Norwegian central bank, Norges Bank, reports an interest rate margin of 2.78 per cent at the end of the second quarter, a fall of 0.19 percentage points compared with last year.

The lending rate fell by 2.82 percentage points from the second quarter of 2003 to 4.03 per cent, while the deposit interest rate fell by 2.63 percentage points to 1.25 per cent.

Increased total assets

Total assets for financial institutions rose by 10 per cent to NOK 3 457 billion compared with the corresponding quarter last year. Norges Bank had the largest increase in total assets by 26.2 per cent to NOK 349 billion. Total assets for commercial and savings banks increased by 8 per cent to NOK 1 833 billion.