...TLTROs Only Stabilised Lending: The ECB's EUR400bn of liquidity injected into eurozone banks through five quarterly Targeted Long-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTROs) since September 2014 helped to reverse the decrease in bank loans that had started in 2012 but didn't provide a stimulus to generate loan growth as intended. Between September 2014 and August 2015 bank corporate lending increased by just EUR4bn (+0.1%), as eurozone banks generally hold ample liquidity buffers and in the absence of stronger economic growth and loan demand their opportunities to expand lending through the TLTRO funds have been limited. Higher Take-up Early On: Take-up in 2014 and in the first auction of 2015 was relatively high as banks largely replaced maturing 3-year LTRO funding. It then strongly decreased in the June 2015 and September 2015 allotments as refinancing needs reduced and because the benchmark mechanism since April 2015 put tighter limitations on how TLTROs can be utilised, therefore reducing...
