Banks’ reliance on ECB funding declines

Irish-based banks’ reliance on emergency funding fell to a two-year low in February.

New data shows that emergency funding to the domestic banks, from the European Central Bank dipped to €130 billion in February, from €132.3bn a monthearlier.

Since the beginning of the bailout programme, the country’s banks have been reliant on central bank loans to fund their day-to-day operations, after losing tens of billions of euro in deposits and being largely excluded from wholesale lending markets.