3  Bernanke, B. and M. Gertler (1989), “Agency cost, net worth, and business fluctuations”, The American Economic Review, March 1989, pp 14-31. 2  BIS Review 149/2007  A lot of that has been securitised (Chart 5). For the household sector, spreads on securitised portfolios of both secured and unsecured credit fell between 2003 and 2005 (Chart 6).
That will have contributed to the fall in effective rates on the underlying mortgages and personal loans (Chart 7). The same broad picture holds for the corporate sector (Chart 8).