Bank loans to the eurozone private sector increased in November, the European Central Bank said yesterday, a further sign the financial sector was slowly returning to normal despite the debt crisis.

Lending rose by two per cent from a revised 1.5 per cent in October, an ECB spokesman said. Meanwhile, the ECB said eurozone money supply as measured by its M3 indicator grew by 1.9 per cent in November on an annual basis, compared with growth of 0.9 per cent in October.