OREANDA-NEWS. May 22, 2014. After five years of declining bank loan portfolios, Estonians have began to take out more mortgages and business loans.

The loan portfolio of local banks grew by 2.2 percent in 2013 to 14.4 billion euros, with business loans making up 44 percent and private loans 48 percent of the total. The rest were loans to financial institutions and to governments, the Financial Supervisory Authority reported.

All segments of the financial market in Estonia grew in 2013, especially life insurance payments (growth of 11 percent), deposits (8 percent to 13.6 billion euros) and pension funds (19 percent).
Ulla Ilisson of Swedbank said people have grown more confident and are no longer postponing purchases as they did during the economic downturn.