Euro zone bank lending is stuck in low gear, ECB data shows

FRANKFURT: Lending to euro zone companies and households grew at a modest pace in November, pointing to a lacklustre end of the year for the bloc’s economy, European Central Bank data showed on Thursday.

Credit growth to businesses slowed to 1.0% in November from 1.2% in October.

While the increase in loans to households was the biggest since August 2023, it was still paltry in historical terms at 0.9%, compared to 0.8% a month earlier.

ECB imposes extra capital charge on 13 banks over leverage risk

On the upside, the more volatile M3 measure of money supply, sometimes an indicator of future economic growth, expanded by 3.8%, the briskest pace in two years, and exceeded all expectations in a Reuters poll.