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French banks take ECB funding
FRENCH banks increased their long-term borrowing from the European Central Bank (ECB) by €43.6bn (£36.4bn) over the last month, according to Bank of France data.
The lenders had borrowed €107bn in long-term ECB funds as of 17 January, up from €63.4bn at 13 December, the data showed.
The funds would more or less cover 2012 financing needs for top banks, according to Deutsche Bank.
The ECB revealed it bought €2.243bn of bonds from states like Italy and Spain last week, down from €3.77bn the previous week.