During the first quarter of 2024, the outstanding volume of foreign currency lending to private households (FX lending volume) fell by € 400 million or by -5.2% compared to the previous quarter; in year-on-year comparison against the figures for Q1 2023 there was a decrease of € 1.55 billion or -18.5%. Since the ban on new lending in 2008, the outstanding volume, adjusted for exchange rate effects, has decreased by € 42.3 billion or -88.2%. In absolute terms there are still € 6.7 billion outstanding in foreign currency loans. The proportion of foreign currency loans to the total outstanding loans to private households was already fallen to 3.8% (cf. Q1-23: 4.4%): at the height of the FX lending boom, it stood at just under one-third (31.8%). 98.5% of foreign currency loans are denominated in Swiss Franc, the remainder almost entirely in Japanese Yen. Since the start of 2008 the Swiss Franc has strengthened by 68.9% against the Euro. During the 1st quarter of 2024, the Swiss Franc’s exchange rate stood at around 0.9766 Swiss Francs to the Euro. These were the findings of the FMA Survey on the development of foreign currency loans during the first quarter of 2024.
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Klaus Grubelnik