Notes: Banks were asked to indicate the relevance of the different objectives, with multiple mentions possible. “Purchasing financial assets” is the average of “purchasing domestic sovereign bonds” and “purchasing other financial assets”. “Granting loans” refers to loans to the non-financial private sector. The last period denotes expectations indicated by banks in the October 2021 round of the BLS.
The latest observations are for the third quarter of 2021. Chart 11 Bank lending conditions and loan growth to firms and households (left side: net percentages of banks reporting an easing (+)/tightening (-) of credit standards and an increase (+)/decrease (-) in loan demand; right side: percentages)  Sources: ECB (BLS and balance sheet items (BSI) statistics) and ECB calculations.