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mpc: 3 A9 Aggregate M4 lending (excluding the effects of securitisations) had also been weaker in January, rising by £3.3 billion (0.3%) compared with £8.8 billion in December. The twelve-month rate had fallen by 0.4 percentage points, but remained robust at 8.4%. Much of the weakeroutturn in January had been accounted for by a fall in lending to OFCs of £1.1 billion (-0.5%).There had been a £5.8 billion fall in non seasonally adjusted reverse repo activity, consistent withthe possibility that the fall in lending to OFCs had reflected an unwinding of banks' millennium-related collateral holdings. A10 Households' M4 deposits had fallen by £1.5 billion (-0.3%) in January, reducing the twelve-month growth rate to 5.3% from 6.4% in December. Part of the fall in January might havereflected payments delayed from December because of the large number of bank holidays, ormillennium-related concerns. Household deposits had probably also been depressed by largepayments under the self-assessment tax arrangements. A11 Households' M4 borrowing (excluding the effects of securitisations) had remained robust, increasing by £4.5 billion (0.8%) in January, with the twelve-month rate at 9.6%. Net totalsecured lending to individuals had increased by £3.4 billion, down by £0.2 billion fromDecember. A12 The number and value of mortgage approvals had fallen in January, for the second month running. Both series were now lower than they had been since early 1999, although some lendershad suggested that the fall in January might have been an exaggerated seasonal effect. That wasconsistent with the pick up in business they had seen in February. A13 Provisional estimates by Bank staff had suggested that mortgage equity withdrawal had remained strong in 1999 Q4 at around £3 billion, though somewhat lower than in Q3. On thisbasis, total real lending for consumption (real mortgage equity withdrawal plus real unsecuredlending) was estimated to have been higher in the second half of 1999 than at any time since1990. A14 Bank borrowing by PNFCs minus PNFCs' M4 deposits had risen again in January, through lower deposits rather than higher lending. PNFCs' M4 deposits had decreased by £2.8billion in January; PNFCs' M4 lending (excluding the effects of securitisations) had fallen by£0.1 billion. Non-bank borrowing by PNFCs had also been relatively strong in the first twomonths of the year. Strong net borrowing in recent months had been consistent with highercorporate expenditure relative to internal funds.