European Central Bank allots 489B euros for euro-area banks in 3-year funding operation

LONDON (MarketWatch)
The European Central Bank on Wednesday said that 523 banks requested a total of 489 billion euros ($641 billion) in funding from the central bank.
The move is part of a drive to increase liquidity and curtail the threat of sovereign default by some euro-zone members.
This was well above a Reuters consensus for 310 billion euros.
The ECB's bank-funding operation, known as a longer-term refinancing operation, or LTRO, is open to euro-area banks.
The loans run for three years.
The funds are borrowed at the ECB's average benchmark interest rate, which stands at 1%.
Italian and Spanish yields on government debt fell ahead of the auction.