ECB to hold extra longer-term refi-Trichet

FRANKFURT, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank said on Thursday it will launch a supplementary long-term refinancing operation as it strives to improve liquidity in the money market.

"We have decided to launch a supplementary longer term refinancing operation. It will be carried out at a variable rate tender, with no pre-set allotment amount and we will apply the standard tender procedure," ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said.

"We are up to our responsibility and I am very proud of that," Trichet added in his news conference, following the ECB's decision to leave official interest rates unchanged.

He gave no date for the supplementary operation.

On Aug. 29, the ECB lent out 50 billion euros for 91 days to cover banks' medium-term funding needs at its regular long-term funding operation. Banks bid for a total of 119.75 billion euros.

A special one-off three-month tender the previous week was also massively oversubscribed.

Trichet said the move had no bearing on the ECB's monetary policy stance. "These are two different things," he said.