ECB offers up to $23.5B to banks
Written on March 22, 2008
The European Central Bank on Thursday offered up to $23.5 billion to cash-hungry banks, aimed at keeping them supplied through the four-day Easter holidays.
The central bank for the 15-nation euro zone announced the €15 billion fine-tuning operation earlier in the day and said that demand far exceeded supply, with banks submitting bids worth €65.8 billion ($103.3 billion).
On Tuesday, the bank allocated an extra €25 billion ($39.2 billion) in liquidity to the banking system during its regular weekly refinancing operation.
Trading in shares of ailing IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG (IKBDF) was halted briefly Thursday after the company disclosed another profit warning and warned of more write-downs on its portfolios that would result in a loss of some $1.3 billion.
German state development bank KfW and other lenders formed a banking pool to protect IKB cash advance loan. It raised the initial risk shield in November to €4.8 billion ($7.5 billion), more than double the initial amount.
Filed in: management.