ECB to aid banks with liquidity

Frankfurt: European Central Bank council member Axel Weber said the ECB should help banks through end-of-year liquidity tensions before determining in the first quarter when to withdraw emergency lending measures.

“Most of these discussions about the continuation of the exit will be focused on the first quarter,” said Weber, who heads Germany’s Bundesbank.

“It’s clear we need to re-embark on a normalisation procedure.”

The comments suggest the ECB is growing more confident that the euro region is coping with its sovereign debt crisis after Germany powered the 16-nation bloc to its fastest economic growth since 2006 in the second quarter.