AI accounts for quarter of euro zone credit growth, ECB says

FRANKFURT, Nov 13 (Reuters) - The financing of artificial intelligence accounts for a quarter of the growth in bank lending to companies in the euro zone at present, European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane said in a Financial Times interview published on Friday.

Credit creation has been surprisingly robust in the bloc of 21 countries that share the euro despite rising interest rates and a damaging oil shock.

Lane said loans to companies would be growing at 3% a year, rather than 4%, if not for AI, despite the relatively small footprint of that industry in the European economy.

"About a quarter of the growth this year in credit is coming from AI, even though those AI sectors are not a quarter of the economy," Lane told an FT podcast.

He reaffirmed he would rather see more equity-financed investment, which would allow AI-native firms to grow more quickly.

The ECB has been gradually raising rates to stem an energy-driven rise in inflation and it is expected to do so once again at its next meeting in December.