Slovenian banks tap ECB for €1.7 bn loans

Slovenia’s largest banks – Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) and Nova KBM – took up €1.7 billion ($2.2 billion) in cheap three-year loans from the European Central Bank earlier this month.

The loans, made under the ECB’s long term refinancing operation (LTRO) carry an interest rate of 1 percent.

The two banks, which are both state-owned, gave no immediate comment.

Both banks posted a loss last year while NLB, in which Belgian banking and insurance group KBC has a stake of 25 percent, needs a capital hike of €400 million by the end of June to boost its capital strength to meet the European Banking Authority’s requirements, daily newspaper Finance said on Monday.