Bankinter Took €5 Billion in ECB Three-Year Loans

 

Madrid-based mortgage lender, took 5 billion euros in three- year loans from the European Central Bank and will put some of the funds to work by lending them out.

The bank will lend the money in higher-yielding loans and also use it to acquire short-duration government bonds and buy back its own debt, Chief Executive Officer Maria Dolores Dancausa said in a news conference in Madrid today.

As many as 523 euro-area lenders took money from the ECB's injection of 489 billion euros into the banking system last month. Spanish banks' average borrowings from the ECB rose in December to 118.9 billion euros, the highest level in 18 months, after lenders tapped the loans.