ECB: Low take-up for TLTRO – Danske Bank

Danske Bank analysts point out that in the ECB's TLTRO3.2 operation (December 2019), banks took only EUR97.7, much below their expectations with 122 banks participating in the operation.

Key Quotes

“The September operation only saw EUR3.4bn. This needs to be seen in the context of the EUR146.8bn that banks will voluntarily repay later this month, as already announced last week. Despite the low take-up resulting in net liquidity drainage of almost EUR50bn, the ECB and markets should not be concerned with excess liquidity still above EUR1.7trn, which is far above the level at which we would expect short-end rates to be materially moved by excess liquidity levels.”

“The TLTRO operations will run quarterly until March 2021, so banks will have plenty of opportunities to take liquidity. There are solid reasons why banks may want to wait for the take-up.”