Monetary transmission and bank lending: Is the single monetary policy homogenous across euro area countries?

Abstract

We postulate that bank lending is affected by ECB policy via new loans and via the stock of existing loans. In this context, this paper documents a wide diversity in borrowers’ features, loan features and price developments across euro area Member States that produces heterogeneous impacts in bank lending. Thus, countries with higher (lower) inflation, higher (lower) stock of loans longer (shorter) maturities, and higher (lower) proportion of adjustable rate loans are affected more (less) when ECB changes its policy rate. The significant differences in these factors across euro area Member States can distort a homogeneous transmission of the single monetary policy and generate asymmetries in bank lending.