FRANKFURT (Bloomberg): The European Central Bank offered lenders partial relief from its negative interest rates -- which were cut again on Thursday -- in an acknowledgment that the policy risks undermining the banking system.
The Governing Council is introducing a two-tier system for reserves in which part of banks’ holdings of excess liquidity will be exempt from the ECB’s deposit charges. The ECB also improved the conditions for making long-term loans to banks, known as TLTROs, by lowering the interest rate on those loans.