ECB Loans Out 529.5 Billion Euros to European Banks - Feb. 29, 2012
The European Central Bank announced Wednesday that banks borrowed €529.5 billion, or $712.4 billion, under a highly-anticipated lending program aimed at preventing a credit crunch in Europe.
In its second long-term refinancing operation (LTRO), the ECB offered banks unlimited three-year loans at interest rates as low as 1%. The ECB allotted nearly €500 billion in the first round of the operation in December.
The borrowing was a bit more than expected, as banks were expected to have taken up roughly €500 billion, although estimates ranged from €300 billion to €1 trillion.