These operations provide strong financial incentives for banks to maintain their lending to the real economy by offering funding at rates as low as -1% to banks fulfilling their lending thresholds. The attractiveness of these operations was reflected in the large take-up of funds in June and September (see right chart slide 5).
We also decided on a comprehensive set of collateral easing measures to ensure the maximum use of our liquidity facilities. We now accept a much broader set of assets as collateral, including small loans to SMEs or even self-employed workers, and we accept them at more favourable conditions.