Brussels, 30/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - In the eurozone in the second quarter of 2014, “credit standards on loans to enterprises were eased by banks in net terms, for the first time since the second quarter of 2007”, according to a quarterly report on bank lending in the eurozone published by the European Central Bank on Wednesday 20 July. The report says: “For loans to households, banks continued to ease credit standards in net terms”, be it for consumer credit or mortgages. The ECB expects this trend to continue into the third quarter of 2014, explaining that the improvements in banks' costs of funds and balance sheet constraints have continued to contribute slightly to an easing of credit conditions for mortgage loans for households and also loans to companies. The demand for household and company loans continued to rise in the second quarter of 2014, but the ECB says that the level of lending remains low. The research was carried out on 137 banks from 26 June to 11 July. (EL)