ECB quarter of way through 60 bln euro covered bond plan

The European Central Bank is almost a quarter of the way through its 60 billion euro covered bond buying plans, data showed on Wednesday, as deposits at the bank dipped ahead of a key injection of ECB one-year cash.

The ECB and the 16 euro zone national central banks are buying euro-denominated covered bonds - debt backed by a pool of assets such as mortgage loans that remain on the issuing bank's balance sheet - over the next year, from both primary and secondary markets.

The ECB said the total purchased rose to 14.959 billion euros from 14.584 billion euros. It means the ECB is almost aquarter of the way through the 60 billion euros it has earmarked to spend.

The amounts are published on Reuters information after the purchases settle, which takes 2-3 days.

Ahead of the results of the ECB's second tender of one-year cash on Wednesday, banks deposited 108.713 billion euros at the ECB overnight, compared to 110.999 euros deposited previously.

The amount banks borrowed from the ECB's overnight account rose to 182 million euros from 172 million euros previously.

The amounts parked at the ECB's deposit facility have been high since it flooded money markets with almost half a trillion euros in one-year funds at the end of June. It holds another one-year refi later this week, suggesting that deposits could jump again.