Latest figures for the Funding for Lending scheme (FLS) showed a reduction in lending during the final quarter of 2012.
Participating banks and building societies cut lending by a net £2.425 billion over the period.
The figure compares to an increase of around £1bn in the first months of the FLS’s operation.
This means that total net lending is down by £1.5 billion since June 2012.
Of the 39 lenders which have signed up for the Bank’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS), two thirds are mutual lenders, primarily building societies.
Five mutuals had drawn £2.3 billion of funds from the FLS by the end of 2012, 17% of the total amount drawn.
The Building Societies Association (BSA) stressed that during the final quarter many of the mutual lenders who have signed up for the scheme were finalising the processes for drawing funds, and are likely to do so before it closes next year.
Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the BSA, said: “The data shows that the mutual lenders which have signed up for the scheme increased their ‘certified’ lending to the real economy by just over £5 billion in the second half of 2012. In comparison, in the same period, other participating lenders reduced their stock of such loans by £6.5 billion.
“Today’s figures from the Bank of England indicate that mutuals will continue to play an important role in lending to the real economy in the year ahead.”