German banks tightened their credit standards for loans to enterprises. By contrast, banks eased their credit standards for loans to households for house purchase. They did not see a need to adjust their credit standards for consumer credit and other lending to households.  

Since January 2003, the Eurosystem has carried out a quarterly bank lending survey (BLS) to expand its knowledge about the role of lending in the monetary transmission mechanism and thus to obtain additional information for monetary policy analysis.

German banks tightened their credit standards for loans to enterprises, for housing loans to households as well as for consumer credit and other loans to households in the second quarter 2026.

The BLS covers three loan categories: loans to enterprises, loans to households for house purchase, and consumer credit and other lending to households. On balance, the surveyed banks tightened their credit standards for loans to enterprises and loans to households. The net percentage of banks that tightened their requirements was +⁠ 16 % for loans to enterprises, +⁠ 4 % for loans to households for house purchase, and +⁠ 11 % for consumer credit and other lending to households. The tightening of credit standards for loans to enterprises was in line with what the banks had originally been planning in the previous quarter. It affected large enterprises as well as small and medium-sized enterprises to a similar extent.

German banks tightened their credit standards for loans to enterprises in the fourth quarter of 2025 to an extent not seen since 2023. This is revealed by the Bundesbank's most recent round of the Bank Lending Survey. The banks pointed to the renewed rise in credit risk as the reason for this tightening.

The quarterly Bank Lending Survey for the Euro Area (BLS) comprises qualitative questions on past and expected future lending policies by participating institutions to the private non-financial sector as well as questions on credit demand.

German banks tightened credit standards for loans to enterprises, loan to households for house purchase, and for  consumer credit and other lending to households in the fourth quarter of 2024. Loan demand increased further in all loan categories, especially for loans to households for house purchase.