Deposits at ECB jump after banks receive 1-yr cash

 

The amount of cash deposited by banks at the European Central Bank jumped, data showed on Friday, after banks got their hands on the 75 billion euros they requested at the ECB's latest handout of one-year loans.

The ECB's 60 billion euro covered bond buying programme also continued to make progress. The total value of bonds purchased to-date reached 15.429 billion euros, up from 15.2 billion euros.

The ECB said commercial banks deposited 116.248 billion euros overnight, well up from 74.385 billion the previous day.

However, the amount parked at the ECB is only roughly a third of what was deposited by banks after the ECB's first one-year tender in June when it flooded markets with a record 442 billion euros.

The amount banks borrowed from the ECB's overnight account plunged to 60 million euros from 4.885 billion euros previously, the ECB added.

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.