Banking Statistics for August 2026

In my previous commentary, which examined the trends in loans and deposits in July, I was pleased with the exceptionally healthy loan portfolio and strong demand for new loans across all major segments—from consumer loans to mortgages to business loans. August essentially followed the same pattern, as demand for loans remains strong, and the number of loans that are not being repaid properly is very low by domestic historical standards. This holds true even when compared internationally, as the EBA Risk Dashboard reported at the end of June that the Czech Republic ranked in the top third of the pan-European rankings in terms of loan portfolio quality, as measured by the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio.

Households

Consumer Loans
The total volume of consumer loans (excluding overdrafts and credit card balances) remained just below the 410 billion koruna mark in August, representing a month-over-month increase of 0.96% (which represents an annualized growth rate of 12.15%) and a year-over-year increase of 15%. Both figures significantly exceed the growth rates of nominal wages and consumer demand. At the same time, however, statistics on non-performing loans show that Czechs are justifiably confident in their ability to repay (and thus to borrow): August, with a rate of 3.96%, continues a streak of months in which the share of non-performing consumer loans has remained below 4%, which is a very good figure for unsecured consumer loans. By comparison, the rate is half as high in neighboring Poland and nearly the same in Germany.

Housing
According to preliminary data from the Czech Banking Association’s (CBA) Hypomonitor, banks and building societies actually granted new mortgages totaling 26.8 billion crowns in August, which is again lower month-over-month, but this can be explained by the waning effect of pre-stockpiling ahead of the CNB’s tightening of rules for drawing down “investment mortgages” starting in April of this year. (Interestingly, in April, the volume of new mortgages peaked at 44.2 billion CZK!) Including refinancing, the total volume for August came to 34.5 billion CZK, which is 14.6% less than in July, but only 4% more than in August 2025. According to Hypomonitor, cumulative unconsolidated mortgage volume, including refinancing, has reached CZK 369 billion since the beginning of the year, representing a 44% increase compared to January through August of last year.

The average interest rate on new mortgages rose further in August to exactly 5% from 4.9% in July, 4.79% in June, 4.67% in May, 4.52% in April, and 4.43% in March. This is primarily due to the rise in benchmark market interest rates (i.e., three- and five-year interest rate swaps). The very intense competition for customers in new business and refinancing is evidenced by the fact that margins have fallen to 0.6% from a long-term average of slightly over 1%. Incidentally, these low margins—by international standards—are linked to low risk costs, as the Czech share of non-performing mortgages, at 0.50%, is about one-third that of Poland’s and half that of Germany’s.

The average mortgage amount remained at the same level as in July at 4.59 million crowns, which is a noticeable decline from 4.88 million crowns in April, when—as we recall—“investment” mortgages were being taken out before the rules were tightened. This decline in volume, coupled with rising interest rates, means that the stylized “average” monthly payment increased by 300 korunas from July’s 25,589 korunas.

The rate hikes are particularly unwelcome for those who need to refinance mortgages taken out in the “ultra-cheap” year of 2021 at an average rate of 2.33%. Regardless of the fact that they have already paid off part of the principal over the past five years, they will pay an average of about 3,300 CZK more per month after refinancing.

Czechs have once again brought the share of non-performing—i.e., delinquent—mortgages down to a new all-time low of 0.50%, although this represents an “improvement” of only one-hundredth of a percentage point compared to July.

Although the total outstanding balance of mortgages lent to households has not yet surpassed the two-trillion-koruna mark, that milestone is within sight following August’s figure of 1.960 trillion CZK.

Non-Financial Sector Companies
Looking at the trend in corporate loan balances, we see a month-over-month increase of 1.33%, bringing the total to 1.650 trillion crowns in July.

On an annualized basis, this represents a strong growth rate of over 17%, which exceeds the year-over-year increase by nearly 4 percentage points, indicating that the pace is accelerating. In a year-over-year comparison, there was a sharp increase in koruna-denominated loans of 15.9% to CZK 866.5 billion, while euro-denominated loans rose by 9.4% year-over-year to a koruna equivalent of CZK 761.8 billion. However, it remains true that subsidiaries of multinational corporations, in particular, finance themselves “abroad,” often through intra-group loans, which do not appear in these statistics—which focus on banks operating domestically—(though they can be traced via the balance of payments).

The share of non-performing loans in the non-financial corporate sector continued its streak of regularly breaking the historical low of 2.00% each month, surpassing the previous record set in July—albeit by only 0.08%. Let us reiterate that this is roughly one-third the level seen in Poland, where the adage “risk is profit” appears to hold truer than here—a higher appetite for risk translates into stronger economic growth. The corporate portfolio looks even worse than in the Czech Republic in ailing Germany, where the share of non-performing loans hovers around 3.5%.

Furthermore, Czech companies continue to hold a high level of corporate deposits (CZK 1.676 trillion in July), all of which once again confirms that, as a whole, “corporates” are in very good health.

Trends in the Main Segments of the Credit Market (Year-over-Year, in %)

Source: CNB, CBA Monitor

Deposits
Despite a strong trend toward seeking more profitable ways to grow savings, many middle-aged and older Czechs remain conservative. As of the end of August, all residents, regardless of age, held 3.937 trillion crowns in deposit accounts, representing a year-over-year increase of 4.4%, and on a month-over-month basis, the previous series of declines came to a halt, although deposits rose by only 0.34% compared to July—a figure that nonetheless represented an increase of 13.4 billion crowns.

In checking accounts with nearly zero interest rates, Czechs and residents held an incredibly high 1.262 trillion crowns, with a downward trend—down by roughly 5.3 billion crowns compared to July and by 13.6 billion crowns year-over-year.

By comparison: The value of investment fund assets at the end of July stood at 2,298.1 billion CZK, up 25.2% year-over-year. The 20-point difference in percentage terms shows that the trend is moving in the right direction—and quickly. Czech households set aside nearly the highest share of disposable income in Europe (19.9%); only Germans are ahead of us.

What is remarkable is that in the Czech Republic, even non-financial corporations are generating a net surplus of deposits over loans; in August, we recorded an increase in deposits from 1.667 trillion crowns in July to 1.676 trillion, which means that companies have about 27 billion crowns more in their bank accounts than they owe to banks. The potential for further loan growth is thus far from exhausted.

Deposit Trends in Major Segments (Year-Over-Year, in %)

Source: CNB, CBA Monitor

Non-performing loans in major segments (in %)

Source: CNB, CBA Monitor

Share of Non-Performing Loans in Individual EU/EEA Countries (%, June 2026)

Source: https://www.eba.europa.eu/risk-and-data-analysis/risk-analysis/risk-monitoring/risk-dashboard