Commercial loan balances return to Sept. '09 levels

According to data released by the Bank of Canada, commercial and corporate lending by Canadian Chartered banks has been growing again. We are now sitting at levels that we’ve not seen since September 2009.

Increased confidence in the economy can be the only assumption, as balances have grown $2.6 billion between December 2010 and February 2011. The category is “Business loans to Canadian residents for business purposes”:

December 2008: $191.563 billion
January 2009: $185.679 billion
February: $183.759 billion
March: $184.089 billion
April: $181.811 billion
May: $178.691 billion
June: $176.365 billion
July: $174.664 billion
August: $173.818 billion
September: $171.152 billion
October: $171.091 billion
November: $168.425 billion
December: $169.430 billion
January 2010: $167.892 billion
February: $168.104 billion
March: $169.495 billion
April: $169.163 billion
May: $166.378 billion
June: $165.369 billion
July: $166.988 billion
August: $164.774 billion
September: $163.976 billion
October: $168.401 billion
November: $168.892 billion
December: $169.170 billion
January 2011: $170.406 billion
February: $171.800 billion

Commercial and corporate lending by chartered banks to Canadian-based businesses is still down by about $20 billion since December 2008. But there are good signs of progress versus 2010.

MRM