Number of loans granted to own-account workers has decreased

At the end of February 2025, Finnish own-account workers[1] had a total of EUR 3.5 billion in loans drawn down from Finnish banks for business purposes. The loan stock has declined continuously since the end of 2016, and it also continued to decline in February at an annual rate of 5.4%. The loan stock peaked at EUR 5.2 billion in September 2014. The contraction of the loan stock reflected a reduction in drawdowns of new loans. Monthly drawdowns began to decline slightly already before the COVID pandemic, and during the past two years or so, they have stabilised at a lower level than before COVID. In February 2025, own-account workers drew down new loans for business purposes in the amount of EUR 39 million, which was less than a half of the February average for the period covered by the statistics before COVID.

According to Statistics Finland, new enterprises belonging to natural persons are being registered as previously. The decline in the loan volume, however, may be affected by various loan demand and supply factors.

Of the loans drawn down for own-account workers’ business, 84% were granted for agriculture. The next-highest shares of the loans were granted for forestry (3%), construction (3%) and trade (2%). Excluding a few industries, loan volumes have decreased widely in different sectors, and the decline in own-account workers’ loan volume is not entirely due to developments in agricultural loans. In recent years, the number of farms has declined while there has been an increasing number of conversions of farms into limited-liability companies[2] and an increase in the number of limited-liability companies. The stock of loans granted to incorporated agriculture has indeed increased while the stock of loans to private farming entrepreneurs has decreased. However, in February 2025, the annual rate of growth of the stock of loans to incorporated agriculture also turned negative (-0.6%).

At the end of February, almost 70% of loans drawn down by own-account workers for business purposes had a maturity longer than 10 years. Only 2% of the stock consisted of short-term loans of up to one year. The average interest rate on the loan stock has declined for almost a year, to stand at 4.79% in February 2025. Compared to the interest rates on the stock of non-financial corporations’ loans, the interest rate paid by own-account workers was 0.67 percentage points higher in February 2025.

In February, 7.9% of own-account workers’ business loans were non-performing[3], as opposed to 7.1% a year earlier. The proportion of own-account workers’ non-performing business loans is significantly higher than that of non-financial corporations, the latter standing at 1.9% in February 2025. Non-performing agricultural loans were reviewed previously, and their share of the own-account workers’ loan stock has continued to climb further, to stand at 8.2% in February 2025. Own-account workers in other industries also had significantly more non-performing loans than non-financial corporations in general, 6.2% of the loan stock in February.

Loans

Drawdowns of new housing loans by Finnish households totalled EUR 1.1 billion in February 2025, which was EUR 180 million more than in the same period a year earlier. Buy-to-let mortgage loans accounted for EUR 110 million of the new housing loan drawdowns. The average interest rate on new housing loans declined from January, to stand at 3.09% in February. At the end of February 2025, the housing loan stock totalled EUR 105.6 billion, and its year-on-year growth amounted to -0.5%. Buy-to-let housing loans accounted for EUR 8.8 billion of the housing loan stock. At the end of February, Finnish households held EUR 17.6 billion of consumer credit and EUR 17.6 billion in other loans.

Drawdowns of new loans[4] by Finnish non-financial corporations in February totalled EUR 2.0 billion, of which loans to housing corporations amounted to EUR 510 million. The average interest rate on new corporate loan drawdowns declined from January to 4.14%. At the end of February, the stock of loans granted to Finnish non-financial corporations stood at EUR 106.6 billion, of which loans to housing corporations accounted for EUR 45.3 billion.

Deposits

At the end of February 2025, Finnish households’ aggregate deposit stock totalled EUR 111.4 billion, and the average interest rate on these deposits was 1.11%. Overnight deposits accounted for EUR 67.9 billion and deposits with an agreed maturity for EUR 14.9 billion of the total deposit stock. In February, Finnish households made new agreements on deposits with an agreed maturity in the amount of EUR 1.2 billion, at an average interest rate of 2.53%.

For further information, please contact:

• Olli Tuomikoski, tel. +358 9 183 2925, email: olli.tuomikoski(at)bof.fi,
• Markus Aaltonen, tel. +358 9 183 2395, email: markus.aaltonen(at)bof.fi.

The next news release on money and banking statistics will be published at 10:00 on 30 April 2025.

Related statistical data and graphs are also available on the Bank of Finland website: https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/statistics/.

[1] Own-account workers are households whose main source of income is from the production of products and services. If a sole proprietor employs on average at least two individuals, it is categorised in the corporate sector as an enterprise-like entity instead of a household. As an exception, agricultural entrepreneurs are always categorised into the household sector regardless of the number of individuals employed.

[2]Source: Natural Resources Institute of Finland (Luke), Number of agricultural and horticultural enterprises by year, ELY Centre and legal form. PxWeb.

[3] A loan is defined non-performing when it is more than 90 days past due or there is evidence indicating the customer's inability to perform on its obligations.

[4] Excl. overdrafts and credit card credit.