FRANKFURT (Germany) - EUROPEAN central banks offered another US$120 billion (S$177.6 billion) in overnight cash to markets on Friday, in an effort to keep a strained financial system flush with cash.
ECB pumps more than US$93b into money markets
FRANKFURT - THE European Central Bank said on Friday it had pumped more than 93 billion dollars (S$137.5 billion) into interbank money markets to get banks through the weekend, a bit less than expected.
The operation has become a daily event aimed at keeping cash flowing through the key financial pipeline on which commercial banks normally trade credit among themselves but which are now on life-support from central banks.
The European Central Bank offered US$100 billion (S$146 billion) in its offer, the Bank of England US$10 billion, and the Swiss National Bank US$10 billion.
The ECB's and the BoE's offers mature on Monday. The SNB does not post details of its offers in the morning. The short term liquidity offers are similar to those in past weeks and the banks post more details on the offering later in the day.
The central banks have been offering cash to markets on almost a daily basis for the last weeks as the financial sector has become wary of lending to anyone - including other banks - and credit has become more scarce as a result. -- AP
