Financing of entreprises 2023Jul
Published on 8 September 2023
Growth in corporate loans moderates but remains positive
- In July 2023, outstanding bank loans to non-financial companies (NFCs) continues to rise for all business sizes, albeit at a more moderate pace (+4.0%, after +4.4% in June on an annualized basis). Growth in investment credit remains high (+6.0% in July), still driven by its equipment component (+7.2%) and, to a lesser extent, by corporate real estate loans (+3.8% in April). Conversely, outstanding treasury loans fall (-2.2% in July, on an annual basis).
- Growth in financing in the form of debt securities is again slightly negative in July (0.7%, after -0.6% in June on an annualized basis).
- The cost of bank loans continues to rise in July (4.59% in July, after 4.33% in June), while the more volatile cost of debt securities fluctuates slightly above 4% (4.08%, after 4.21% in June).
1 - Overview of NFCs : Outstanding amounts and flows in € Bn, annual growth rate and cost in %
(non-seasonally adjusted) ![]()
| Jul-2023 | Growth rate | Cost (annual Interest rate) | |||||||
| Outstanding amounts |
Transactions (cumulative over 12 month) |
New business (cumulative over 12 month) |
May-2023 | Jun-2023 | Jul-2023 | May-2023 | Jun-2023 | Jul-2023 | |
| NFC's global financing | 2,034.8 | 47.6 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 4.09 | 4.29 | 4.42 | |
| Loans | 1,345.2 | 52.1 | 335.2 | 5.2 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 4.13 | 4.33 | 4.59 |
| Investment | 948.2 | 6.7 | 6.6 | 6.0 | |||||
| equipment | 603.4 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.2 | |||||
| real-estate | 344.8 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 3.8 | |||||
| Treasury | 325.9 | 0.8 | -2.5 | -2.2 | |||||
| Other lending | 71.1 | 6.6 | 11.3 | 9.2 | |||||
| Loans up to €1 million | 116.9 | 4.08 | 4.24 | 4.39 | |||||
| Loans over €1 million | 218.4 | 4.17 | 4.39 | 4.69 | |||||
| Securities other than shares | 689.6 | -4.6 | 0.1 | -0.6 | -0.7 | 4.02 | 4.21 | 4.08 | |
Monthly changes in outstanding loans by purpose (seasonally adjusted data in € Bn)![]()
Cost by financing sources (in %) ![]()
2- Loans to firms by size ![]()
- Credit growth rates remain high, but continue to fall slightly year-on-year for SMEs, at +2.8% in July 2023 compared with +3.0% in June 2023, and for ISE, at +3.6% in July 2023 compared with +4.3% in June 2023; the annual growth rate in credit for large companies is virtually stable, at +8.6% in July 2023 compared with +8.4% in June 2023.
- The cost of credit continues to rise for all categories of company, with an annual interest rate of 5.03% for SMEs in July 2023, compared with 4.78% in June 2023; 4.13% for ISEs in July 2023, compared with 3.91% in June 2023; and 4.22% for large companies in July 2023, compared with 3.85% in June 2023.
| Outstanding amounts (in Bn €) |
Annual growth rate in % | Cost in % (annual interest rate) |
|||||
| Jul-2023 | May-2023 | Jun-2023 | Jul-2023 | May-2023 | Jun-2023 | Jul-2023 | |
| All firms | 1,345.2 | 5.2 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 4.13 | 4.33 | 4.59 |
| Of which: | |||||||
| - SME | 568.6 | 3.7 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 4.58 | 4.78 | 5.03 |
| - ISE | 366.5 | 5.6 | 4.3 | 3.6 | 3.73 | 3.91 | 4.13 |
| - Large firms | 204.0 | 10.5 | 8.4 | 8.6 | 3.62 | 3.85 | 4.22 |
Note on methodology: Total loans to all firms is measured on the basis of data from bank balance sheets, which provide "macro" information, i.e., exhaustive information (all companies based on loans to the first euro), with certain breakdowns according to the nature of the loan. At the same time, on a regulatory basis, credit institutions and investment firms must declare by borrower ("micro" information) to the Central Risk Service of the Banque de France (SCR) the loans granted when they exceed €25,000. This collection is gradually being abandoned in favor of the AnaCredit collection, except for small banks which will not be subject to this declaration, in order to respect the "proportionality" between the economic importance of the bank and the constraints of its declaration obligations. This "micro" collection, which is fairly broad but not exhaustive, offers the advantage of being able to adopt the concepts of enterprise and category of enterprise defined by decree no. 2008-1354 on the criteria for determining the category of enterprise for the purposes of statistical and economic analysis (decree implementing article 51 of the law on the modernization of the economy - LME). The residual difference between the total by firm size and the total firm is essentially explained by these differences in scope and by legal units that cannot be assigned to a size category according to the criteria of the LME ("SCI and miscellaneous").
Interest rates by enterprise size (in %)![]()
Outstanding amounts of loans to resident enterprises by size (in € Bn) ![]()
3 - Outstanding amounts by sector ** (stocks in € Bn, annual growth rate in %)![]()
- Growth in outstanding loans continues to be strong in the business consultancy and services (+11.5%), information and communication (+5.1%) and real estate (+7.3%) sectors. On the other hand, outstanding loans fall in the accommodation and catering (-2.1%) and transport and storage (-1.6%) sectors. Bank financing of industrial activities grows slightly by +1.4% in July 2023, down slightly on June 2023 when it stood at +1.7%
| Drawn credits | Drawn and undrawn credits | |||||
| Outstanding amounts | Annual growth rates in % | Outstanding amounts | Annual growth rates in % | |||
| Jul-2023 | Jun-2023 | Jul-2023 | Jul-2023 | Jun-2023 | Jul-2023 | |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) | 64.5 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 73.4 | 4.6 | 3.5 |
| Industry (BE) | 171.9 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 265.7 | 0.1 | -0.6 |
| - inc. Manufacturing (C) | 123.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 189.2 | -0.8 | -1.6 |
| Construction (FZ) | 75.4 | 4.4 | 3.5 | 112.3 | 2.8 | 0.4 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 186.0 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 256.7 | -2.8 | -3.1 |
| Transportation and storage (H) | 58.3 | -1.1 | -1.6 | 75.4 | 1.0 | -0.4 |
| Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 51.5 | -1.8 | -2.1 | 57.3 | -1.9 | -0.8 |
| Information and communication (JZ) | 33.1 | 8.1 | 5.1 | 55.8 | 2.8 | -1.8 |
| Real estate activities (LZ) | 523.8 | 7.4 | 7.3 | 578.1 | 7.7 | 7.5 |
| Advisory and Business support activities (MN) | 97.9 | 11.8 | 11.5 | 125.9 | 12.0 | 13.6 |
Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) |
61.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 70.1 | -1.1 | -0.9 |
| Holdings | 23.0 | 16.3 | 21.5 | 27.7 | 9.9 | 13.2 |
(*) including non-trading real estate companies
(**)For the difference between total firms and total, see the method note
(**)For the difference between total firms and total, see the method note
4 - Quarterly additional information : financing of VSE (1)![]()
Loans to VSEs: breakdown by type of loans![]()
| Outstanding amounts (Billions euros) | Annual growth rate in % | ||
| Q2 2023 | Q1 2023 | Q2 2023 | |
| Loans | 397.1 | 3.8 | 3.3 |
| Treasury | 37.7 | -19.1 | -21.0 |
| Equipment | 161.2 | 4.8 | 3.1 |
| Real-estate | 198.2 | 9.2 | 9.8 |
- At the end of June 2023, outstanding loans to very small enterprises reached €397.1 billion. Annual loan growth slows to +3.3%, compared with +3.8% in the previous quarter, mainly due to negative trends in treasury loans, which fall to €37.7 bn, after €39.9 bn in the first quarter of 2023 (-21.0% annualized).
- Annual growth in equipment and real estate loans remains positive, at +3.1% and +9.8% respectively, after +4.8% and +9.2% in the previous quarter.
Change in outstanding loans to VSEs ![]()
(in EUR Bn)
Quarterly new loans to VSEs ![]()
(in EUR Bn)
Additional information
In this data collection micro-enterprises are characterized by the criteria of the 2008 LME law - legal units excluding self-employed entrepreneurs with less than 10 employees, and which have an annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding 2 million euros - or by default, by a turnover not exceeding 2 million euros.
Micro-enterprises are part of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Micro-enterprises are part of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
(1) Following a change in the editorial line of some Stat Info (see the press release available here https://www.banque-france.fr/communique-de-presse/la-banque-de-france-presente-la-refonte-de-ses-stat-info), the quarterly publication on microenterprise financing is now integrated quarterly into Stat Info Financing of firms.
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Updated on 12 September 2023