Banks reduce use of ECB emergency loans - ECB

FRANKFURT, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Banks borrowed 1.341 billion euros ($1.97 billion) from the European Central Bank's overnight marginal lending facility and deposited 1.434 billion using its deposit facility, the ECB said on Wednesday.

The sums borrowed and deposited are much higher than usual, but down on Tuesday's high level of 2.089 billion euros borrowed and 5.965 billion deposited, showing some reduction tensions on euro zone interbank markets.

Banks try to avoid using the ECB's permanent overnight lending and borrowing facilities because the 5.25 percent borrowing rate and 3.25 percent deposit rate are punitive compared with rates usually available on interbank markets.

The figures were published on the ECB's Reuters information page ECB40.

Central banks worldwide, including the ECB, have already lent financial markets billions of euros or dollars of extra funding in the past week. (Reporting by David Milliken; editing by David Stamp)