Banks gorge on 530 bln euros of ECB 3-year funds

Banks took 530 billion euros at the European Central Bank's second offering of three-year funds on Wednesday, slightly above forecasts, fueling hopes that more credit will flow to businesses and government borrowing costs will ease further.

A total of 800 banks borrowed money at the tender, with demand exceeding the 500 billion euros expected by traders polled by Reuters and well above the 489 billion allotted in the first such operation in late December.