Abstract 

Net lending varies considerably over time and contributed to lower household saving prior to both the banking crisis and Global Financial Crisis (GFC), but to higher household saving during the pandemic. Net lending is defined as transactions in  financial assets, such as bank deposits and securities, less changes in debt. After the coronavirus outbreak in 2020, net lending increased considerably for all age and financial wealth groups. The 10 percent wealthiest households accounted for most of the increase. A distinctive feature of the pandemic years is that the shift in net lending occurred mainly due to an accumulation of financial wealth and not due to reduced borrowing. A dichotomy in saving behaviour can be observed in 2021. For younger households and households with lower financial wealth, net lending fell as a share of disposable income, but increased for the other groups.