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ECB Lends 104 Billion Euros for 3 Months as 12-Month Loan Ends
September 29, 2010, 6:35 AM EDT
By Jana Randow
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank said it will lend banks 104 billion euros ($141 billion) for three months as some 225 billion euros of long-term loans mature.
Banks tomorrow need to repay 75 billion euros in 12-month funds, 18 billion euros in six-month funds and 132 billion euros in three-month loans. The 12- and six-month loans won’t be renewed as the ECB phases out the non-standard measures used to fight the financial crisis. Today’s three-month loan and a six- day tender tomorrow are designed to help banks through the transition period.
Demand for ECB cash may reveal the health of euro-area banks, some of which are struggling with the fallout of the region’s debt crisis. Banks’ addiction to central-bank liquidity is a “problem” that “needs to be tackled,” ECB council member Ewald Nowotny said on Sep. 6. While the ECB is still lending banks as much cash as they need, the durations of the loans are shortening.
“The amount of excess liquidity in money markets is moving down but an increasing proportion of loans is going to banks in peripheral countries,” said Nick Kounis, head of macro research at ABN Amro Bank NV in Amsterdam. “That’s creating a more and more unbalanced situation.”
The Frankfurt-based ECB said 182 banks asked for the three- month funds at its benchmark interest rate of 1 percent. Banks can currently borrow three-month money from each other in the market at about 0.88 percent.
“Banks in Portugal, Greece, Spain and Ireland borrowed 361 billion euros from the ECB in August, accounting for over 60 percent of total Eurosystem lending, more than three times their combined share of euro-area GDP or banking sector assets,” said Nick Matthews, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland in London. “Periphery demand remains high, though the recent trend of reduced reliance in the core countries is likely to continue and result in some unrolled funds.”
September 29, 2010, 6:35 AM EDT
By Jana Randow
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank said it will lend banks 104 billion euros ($141 billion) for three months as some 225 billion euros of long-term loans mature.
Banks tomorrow need to repay 75 billion euros in 12-month funds, 18 billion euros in six-month funds and 132 billion euros in three-month loans. The 12- and six-month loans won’t be renewed as the ECB phases out the non-standard measures used to fight the financial crisis. Today’s three-month loan and a six- day tender tomorrow are designed to help banks through the transition period.
Demand for ECB cash may reveal the health of euro-area banks, some of which are struggling with the fallout of the region’s debt crisis. Banks’ addiction to central-bank liquidity is a “problem” that “needs to be tackled,” ECB council member Ewald Nowotny said on Sep. 6. While the ECB is still lending banks as much cash as they need, the durations of the loans are shortening.
“The amount of excess liquidity in money markets is moving down but an increasing proportion of loans is going to banks in peripheral countries,” said Nick Kounis, head of macro research at ABN Amro Bank NV in Amsterdam. “That’s creating a more and more unbalanced situation.”
The Frankfurt-based ECB said 182 banks asked for the three- month funds at its benchmark interest rate of 1 percent. Banks can currently borrow three-month money from each other in the market at about 0.88 percent.
“Banks in Portugal, Greece, Spain and Ireland borrowed 361 billion euros from the ECB in August, accounting for over 60 percent of total Eurosystem lending, more than three times their combined share of euro-area GDP or banking sector assets,” said Nick Matthews, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland in London. “Periphery demand remains high, though the recent trend of reduced reliance in the core countries is likely to continue and result in some unrolled funds.”