SPEECH - In the speech 'Relationship lending in the euro area' made on 24 October, Otmar Issing of the ECB said recent trends in the European financial markets seem to have put pressure on banks, leading some of them to reduce the scale of their relationship lending activities. All in all, Issing said, increased competition will trigger substantial changes and cause difficulties but after a period of transition the financial industry of the euro area will have gained competitiveness which is