Margin loan balances hit an eight-year low in the March 2012 quarter. Reserve Bank figures published yesterday show a fall from A$15.1 billion in the December quarter to $14.9 billion in March.The margin lending sector has been in decline since late 2007, when balances reached a peak of $41.6 billion. Balances have fallen 64 per cent since then.The fall in the number of client accounts has not been so steep. From a peak of 248,000, in December 2007, account numbers have fallen 16.5 per cent to the current level of 207,000.The average number of margin calls in the March quarter was 0.56 per 1000 clients per day - down from 0.91 per 1000 clients per day in the December quarter.Borrowers are still recovering from the bear market of 2008, when margin calls reached 8.6 per 1000 clients per day.The big margin lenders are Commonwealth Bank's wealth management arm, Colonial, Westpac's BT Financial Group, and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.