Banking Statistics for May 2026

Both macroeconomic data and sector-specific banking statistics continue to confirm the very strong financial health of Czech households, sole proprietors, and companies. Across all these groups, we are seeing stable demand for consumer, mortgage, business, and corporate financing.

In May, the non-performing loan ratio remained essentially at the record lows recorded in the previous month, indicating that individuals, sole proprietors, and the corporate sector are all repaying their loans very well. In the international overview published by the EBA Risk Dashboard, the Czech Republic ranked eighth from the bottom as of the end of March this year—placing it in the top third of the pan-European ranking in terms of credit portfolio quality.

Households

Consumer Loans

The total volume of consumer loans (excluding overdrafts and credit card balances) reached CZK 396.2 billion in May, representing a month-over-month increase of 1.2%. Increased demand is thus continuing; year-over-year, the volume of these loans rose by 14.9%, which is significantly faster (nearly twice as fast) than nominal wages. Czechs continue to ride a generally optimistic wave, confident in their ability to repay consumer loans—which is understandable given low unemployment and continued robust wage growth. This is confirmed by both statistics and the Czech Statistical Office’s (CZSO) business surveys, which showed an improvement in consumer confidence in June, and the share of households expecting their financial situation to improve over the next twelve months also rose month-over-month. Therefore, it can be assumed that demand for consumer loans will continue at this or a similar pace. According to the expectations of most forecasting agencies, this year’s economic growth will be solid, at a rate of 2.1%, slightly exceeding the twenty-year average (1.8%, in 2015 prices).

May’s optimism regarding loan uptake and positive consumer sentiment aligns well with data on the very strong repayment of bank consumer loans, where only 3.97% of the total volume fell into the “non-performing” (excluding overdrafts and credit card balances) accounted for only 3.97% of the total volume. This is the second consecutive month that this indicator has fallen below the 4% threshold.

Housing

According to preliminary data from the Czech Banking Association’s (CBA) Hypomonitor, banks and building societies issued new mortgages totaling 38.1 billion crowns in May, a significant decline from 44.2 billion crowns. However, this decline is due to efforts to secure investment mortgages, for which the Czech National Bank (CNB) significantly tightened requirements in April regarding the required equity (at least 30%) and the debt-to-income (DTI) ratio cap (seven times annual income). According to Hypomonitor, cumulative new mortgage volume since the beginning of the year stands at 179 billion crowns, which is 59 billion more than in the same period last year.

As the wave of refinancing gradually gains momentum five years after the peak of the last mortgage boom, this segment of the market is also growing. Although it fell month-over-month in May from 17.2 billion to 14.5 billion CZK, this is still 105% more than the average of 7.1 billion refinanced last year and 270% over the 3.9 billion refinanced in 2024. The data is tracked by the CBA’s Hypomonitor, based on its own data collection.

In recent months, we have repeatedly mentioned the less-than-encouraging news that mortgage rates “have nothing to push them down”—quite the opposite, in fact. The average effective interest rate on new mortgages rose further in May to 4.67% from 4.52% in April and 4.43% in March. This is primarily due to the rise in benchmark market interest rates. In contrast to how rapidly swap rates are changing, the increase in mortgage rates is significantly more moderate due to competitive pressure, as banks adjust mortgage rates much more cautiously in order to maintain market share and retain clients seeking refinancing.

Added to the rate effect is the effect of the average mortgage amount, which remained virtually unchanged at 4.85 mil. Kč compared to April (CZK 4.88 million), so that, on balance, the average monthly payment on a new mortgage rose by roughly CZK 150 to CZK 26,347. When refinancing “old mortgages” taken out during the era of low rates five years ago, the effect of the higher current refinancing rate of 4.52%—compared to the average of 2.33% in 2021—far outweighs the effect of the portion of the principal already paid off, resulting in an increase in the monthly payment of about 3,100 CZK. This increase in the refinancing payment thus takes up just under 6% of the average monthly gross salary. However, this does not yet appear to be reflected in an increased share of “non-performing mortgages,” which remained at the historic April low of 0.52%—an excellent figure even by international standards.

The total mortgage balance also reached a historic record, climbing to 1,911 billion crowns at the end of May, so we can almost certainly expect it to break the two-trillion-crown mark by the end of the year.

Non-Financial Sector Companies

Looking at the trend in corporate loan balances, we see a month-over-month increase of 1% to 1.580 trillion crowns, which is 7.6% more than a year ago.

Year-over-year, there was a sharp increase in koruna-denominated loans of 16.7% to 828.4 billion, while euro-denominated loans declined slightly year-over-year to a koruna equivalent of 729 billion. It is important to note here that companies with foreign owners, in particular, typically secure financing “abroad,” often in the form of intra-group loans, which are not reflected in these statistics, which focus on banks operating domestically.

The share of non-performing loans in the non-financial corporate sector as a whole rose by one hundredth of a percentage point above April’s historic low, which is, of course, still a remarkable result. Given that corporate deposits also remain at a high level (1.669 trillion CZK), all signs indicate 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

Following a strong month-over-month increase in household deposits of one percentage point to 3.945 trillion CZK in April, May saw a significantly slower increase of just under two-tenths of a percentage point to 3,950.7 trillion CZK, with a year-over-year increase of 5.8%. Despite a strong trend toward seeking more profitable ways to grow savings—especially among younger generations—many Czechs still cling to their legendary conservatism: they hold 1.276 biliónu korun in checking accounts, roughly 15% of the Czech gross domestic product!

As for non-financial corporations, we recorded 1.669 trillion in deposit accounts for May, representing a surplus of 88 billion crowns over deposits. Compared to pre-COVID times, the ratio of corporate loans to GDP remains low, and there is still enormous room for credit expansion to finance investments and business growth, thereby driving economic growth.

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 (%, March 2026)

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