These differences in sectoral loan developments are in line with past regularities: growth in loans to households tends to pick up early in the economic cycle, while lending to non-financial firms typically lags behind improvements in economic activity.
Furthermore, the European banking industry has shown commitment by launching several initiatives to create SEPA, and by setting up the EPC to drive the different industry initiatives. More recently, public administrations have also shown their commitment to SEPA, as the ECOFIN Council in October expressed its strong political support for the creation of SEPA.