Meanwhile it is noteworthy that spreads on non-tracker mortgage interest rates have moved higher and higher, not responding positively to the lowering of the ECB policy rate from 1.5 per cent in mid-2011 to 0.05 per cent today (Figure 2).
(This is not quite visible from the usual statistical data series on aggregate mortgage lending rates since some  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  tracker rates – mostly on restructured mortgages – are included in the standard definition for that series). Admittedly, despite this widening of spreads on non-tracker mortgages, the banks have not been profitable.