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The amount that banks will repay on May 28 is
above this week's repayments of 6.155 billion euros, and beats
the 4.8 billion forecast in a Reuters poll. <ECB/REFI>
The ECB has signaled its readiness to take fresh policy action
at its June 5 meeting after reviewing the latest round of its
staff forecasts for the euro zone economy, which are due to come
out the same day.
Reuters reported last week that the ECB's policy package would
include cuts in all interest rates and targeted measures aimed
at boosting lending to small- and mid-sized firms.
Lowering the main refinancing rate would make holding the
existing three-year loans - the cost of which is linked to this
rate - cheaper and reduce borrowing costs.
But cutting the interest rate on overnight deposits below the
current level of zero would effectively mean charging banks for
parking their excess cash overnight at the central bank.
On Friday, the ECB said five banks would repay 6.123 billion
euros from the first LTRO on May 28, and four banks would pay
back 0.854 billion from the second LTRO.
(Reporting by Eva Taylor; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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