Met de recente lancering van LTRO – Long Term Refinancing Operation – van de ECB, werd voor bijna 500 miljard euro aan nieuwe euro’s weggezet bij de Europese banken. De bankiers hebben nu duidelijk de smaak te pakken voor dit gratis geld van de Europese centrale bank. Op 27 februari vindt al een nieuwe LTRO-ronde plaats, maar ditmaal wordt enkele versnellingen hoger geschakeld, volgens een recente rondvraag bij enkele topbankiers in Davos. Via FT:

Several of the eurozone’s biggest banks have told the Financial Times that they could well double or triple their request for funds in the ECB’s three-year money auction on February 29. “Banks are not going to be as shy second time round,” said the head of one eurozone bank at last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos. “We should have done more first time.” Three bank chief executives, all of whom asked to remain anonymous, said they were planning to increase their participation twofold or threefold. Goldman Sachs has told clients that banks could ask for twice as much in the February auction as in December when more than 500 lenders raised €489 billion. “They could do another €1tn easily in February,” said one senior banker. “It could be way more than that if things get worse in the markets.” The ECB, under new president Mario Draghi, launched its funding facility in December to avert a looming credit crunch, with €230bn of bank bonds coming due for repayment in the first quarter of 2012 while bond markets remained largely closed to new issuance.

1 biljoen en meer aan gratis euro’s van de ECB, wat wil je nog meer als bankier?! h/t Victor