The European Central Bank on Thursday said it lent firms EUR 131.9 billion for three months. However, this was much smaller than the expected borrowing of around EUR 200 billion. The latest figure suggests that the dependence of euro area banks on the ECB’s short term funding is not as severe as expected. This does not not mean the banking system is totally out of the woods. The central bank said the number of bidders totaled 171. These financial institutions paid an interest rate of 1%.

The European Commission on Wednesday extended Dutch and Slovenian bank guarantee schemes and the Greek and Polish bank support measures until the end of this year. The Commission has already extended its authorization of bank guarantee schemes in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Latvia, Ireland, Spain and Denmark. The vast majority of support schemes for financial institutions, put in place at the end of 2008 to ensure financial stability at the height of the financial crisis, expire at the end of June.