Financing of entreprises - 2025-12
Published on 10th of February 2026
In 2025, loans to non-financial corporations to finance investments increased by more than 4%
- In 2025, the growth in financing granted to non-financial corporations (NFCs) reached 3.1% (after 1.6% in 2024; see Table 1), driven by both the increase in outstanding debt securities (4.1%, after 0.7% in 2024) and bank loans (2.6%, after 2.1% in 2024). Companies used these loans to finance investments, for which outstanding loans increased by 4.2% in 2025 (after 3.5% in 2024), while simultaneously going on reducing their outstanding cash loans (-4.5%, after -2.9% in 2024).
- The average interest rate on new financing to NFCs fell in 2025 (3.52% in December 2025, when it reached 3.93% at the end of 2024) due to the decline in the cost of bank loans (3.54% in December 2025, after 4.18% at the end of 2024), while the interest rate on debt securities remained almost unchanged between December 2024 and December 2025 (3.48% after 3.46%) although volatile throughout the year.
1 - Overview of NFCs : Outstanding amounts and flows in € Bn, annual growth rate and cost in %
(non-seasonally adjusted) ![]()
| Dec- 2025(p) | Annnual growth rate | Cost (annual Interest rate) | |||||||||
| Outstanding
amounts |
Transactions
(cumulative over 12 month) |
New business
(cumulative over 12 month) |
Dec- 2024 | Oct- 2025 | Nov- 2025(r) | Dec- 2025(p) | Dec- 2024 | Oct- 2025 | Nov- 2025(r) | Dec- 2025(p) | |
| NFC's global financing | 2,142.5 | 65.4 | 726.4 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.93 | 3.37 | 3.42 | 3.52 |
| Loans | 1,408.4 | 36.3 | 353.3 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 4.18 | 3.45 | 3.46 | 3.54 |
| Investment | 1,031.6 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.2 | ||||||
| equipment | 644.2 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.6 | 3.8 | ||||||
| real-estate | 387.4 | 2.9 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 5.0 | ||||||
| Treasury | 296.6 | -2.9 | -3.0 | -2.6 | -4.5 | ||||||
| Other lending | 80.2 | 4.1 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 11.6 | ||||||
| Loans up to €1 million | 123.3 | 4.17 | 3.68 | 3.67 | 3.72 | ||||||
| Loans over €1 million | 230.0 | 4.18 | 3.30 | 3.33 | 3.46 | ||||||
| Securities other than shares | 734.0 | 29.1 | 373.0 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 3.46 | 3.23 | 3.36 | 3.48 |
(r) : revised data ; (p) : provisional data
Monthly changes in outstanding loans by purpose (seasonally adjusted data in € Bn)![]()
Cost (all maturities combined) by financing sources (in %) ![]()
2- Bank loans by size of NFC![]()
- In 2025, the growth in outstanding loans remained positive but varied depending on company size. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and companies of unspecified size, it increased slightly to 1.2% (after 0.9% in 2024). It decreased for intermediate-sized enterprises (ISEs) to 0.5% (after 1.2% in 2024), as well as for large firms to 3.0% (after 3.2% in 2024).
- Between the end of November and the end of December 2025, the average interest rate on new loans increased for all company sizes: it reached 3.32% for large firms, 3.51% for SMEs and companies of unspecified size, and 3.70% for ISEs. However, in 2025, it declined for all categories of companies compared to the end of 2024.
| Outstanding
amounts (in Bn €) |
Outstanding year-on-year growth in % | Cost in % (annual interest rate) |
|||||||
| Dec- 2025(p) | Dec- 2024 | Oct- 2025 | Nov- 2025(r) | Dec- 2025(p) | Dec- 2024 | Oct- 2025 | Nov- 2025(r) | Dec- 2025(p) | |
| - SME and unspecified size | 541.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 4.12 | 3.43 | 3.45 | 3.51 |
| - ISE | 386.3 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 4.28 | 3.65 | 3.63 | 3.70 |
| - Large firms | 224.4 | 3.2 | 5.6 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 4.13 | 3.14 | 3.17 | 3.32 |
Interest rates (all maturities combined) by enterprise size (in %) ![]()
Outstanding amounts of loans to resident enterprises by size (in € Bn) ![]()
3 - Bank loans by sector (outstanding amounts in €bn, annual growth rate in %) ![]()
- In 2025, the growth in outstanding drawn credits also varied across business sectors. It remained positive for the advisory and business supports activities (+5.1%, after +10.1% in 2024), real estate activities (+4.8%, after +2.9%), transportation and storage (+3.2%, the same as in 2024), and agriculture, forestry and fishing (+2.3%, after +3.5%).
- However, outstanding drawn credits continued to decline in the education, health, and social work services (-3.5% vs -1.7% in 2024), the wholesale and retail trade (-3.2%, after -2.5%), manufacturing (-1.7%, after -2.9%), accommodation and food services (-1.0%, after -0.4%), and construction (-0.9%, after -3.1%). Growth in outstanding drawn credits became negative in the information and communication sector (-3.2%, after +3.8% in 2024).
Outstanding amounts by sector (€bn)
December 2025
December 2025
Year on year growth of drawn credits by sector (in %)
Year on year change of drawn and undrawn credits by sector (in %)
4 - Quarterly additional information about loans to NFCs rates (1)
Cost of new loans by purpose ![]()
(en %)
Breakdown of new loans by purpose ![]()
(in % of new business credits excluding overdrafts)
Characteristics of new loans to NFC![]()
| Average rate (en %) | Average maturity (in month) |
Share of loans fixed rate (in %) |
||
| Jul-2025 | Oct-2025 | Oct-2025 | Oct-2025 | |
| Overdrats | 4.67 | 4.55 | ||
| Treasury excluding overdrafts | 3.62 | 3.55 | 27 | 23 |
| Equipment | 3.50 | 3.44 | 119 | 81 |
| Real-estate | 3.35 | 3.35 | 198 | 86 |
| Other investment loans | 4.43 | 4.28 | 56 | 99 |
The survey is conducted among a sample of branches and headquarters of banking institutions operating in metropolitan France. It takes into account new loans granted in the first month of each quarter to non-financial corporations. It is based on the effective rate in the narrow sense (TESE), i.e. the interest component of the overall effective rate (TEG).
AT Internet - liste domaines
Banque de France
Download the PDF version of the document
EN_Stat_Info_financing_of_firms_202512.pdf
Updated on the 12th of February 2026