The unleashed effect of rising rates is hitting bank loans: there has been a €64 billion credit crunch over the past year, with a reduction of nearly 5 percent. Banks have cut all types of business loans, with a reduction of €57 billion (minus 8 percent). As for households, the balance is negative by €7 billion. Considering that mortgages are essentially stationary, consumer credit has grown by nearly €6 billion, while personal loans have plummeted by more than €13 billion. This is according to the monthly credit report produced by the Unimpresa Study Center, which found that bank customers are struggling to meet their due dates with loan installments so much so that net non-performing loans grew by nearly 10 percent in one year, from €16 billion to nearly €18 billion, but by 25 percent in the first nine months of 2023. According to the Unimpresa Study Center, which compiled statistics from the Bank of Italy, net of securitizations, banks' loans to individuals plummeted by €63.7 billion (-4.70 percent), falling from €1,355.8 billion in September 2022 to €1,292.1 billion in September 2023.
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