It also enables us to follow how debts develop over time and thus also provides some information on the households’ amortisation behaviour. The Riksbank’s credit data is therefore an important piece of the household-debt puzzle. The Riksbank’s credit data confirms our concern Let me now say something about what our data shows and also in some cases place the data in relation to other results that have been presented to us in various contexts. It is of course not my intention to give the impression that other results are incorrect in some way. It is rather the case that data is used in different ways depending on one’s perspective and focus, and this is reflected in the results. The Riksbank’s particular focus is on the risks that household indebtedness may pose to the real economy and financial stability. The aggregate debt ratio underestimates debts among borrowers As I mentioned earlier, the aggregate debt ratio is 174 per cent. However, as this figure is based on the entire Swedish household sector it also includes individuals who have no debts but have an income. Now that it is possible, it therefore seems more relevant to examine the debt ratio for those who actually have debts, that is almost four million Swedes over the age of 17. If the debt ratio is calculated only for indebted households, the figure arrived at is 263 per cent.
The major Swedish banks fund about half of their operations on the capital markets of which a substantial part is in foreign currency. In simple terms this means that more than one of  8  BIS central bankers’ speeches  every two krona that are lent to Swedish households is ultimately governed by conditions that are set by anonymous capital managers in Sweden or elsewhere in the world. Moreover, approximately half of the banks’ funding consists of covered bonds which are partly held by foreign investors and partly by the other major Swedish banks. All in all, this means that developments on the mortgage market in Sweden are not only important to individual banks but also to the banking sector as a whole. If the providers of the banks’ market funding were to lose confidence in the banks, or in the situation on the mortgage market, the price of funding could increase and access to funding decrease. This would entail higher interest rates for households and perhaps also for companies, depending on the ability of the banks to parry such a situation. It is therefore vital that our financial system is resilient and inspires confidence, and that the development of household debt is deemed to be sustainable in the long term. We are in a situation in which the development of debt in Sweden and the Swedish mortgage market are not only matters of importance to us here in Sweden but also to international investors.