Eurozone banks borrow €111bn from ECB

A total of 78 eurozone banks yesterday took up €111bn (£91.5bn) of very short term six-day funds, in line with expectations. The European Central Bank had laid on unlimited short-term funds for banks to ease yesterday's repayment of €442bn of one-year money by 1,121 banks. The ECB wants to stop banks relying on the crutch of these long-term funds.

The take-up of yesterday's very short term funding was broadly in line with expectations. On Wednesday €132bn of three-month money was lent, although that was considerably lower than analysts had feared and has led to optimism among some that eurozone banks have shrunk their balance sheets to require less funding and are proving able to borrow money commercially. But analysts think that about 170 banks are still having difficulty, many in Spain, Greece and Portugal.