FRANKFURT: Euribor bank-to-bank lending rates hit new all-time lows on Monday as expectations persisted that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates further in the coming months after it downgraded its economic outlook for the euro zone.
The ECB kept its main refinancing interest rate at a record low of 0.75 percent at its September policy meeting, but said the euro zone economy would probably contract more than it had previously expected this year.
Estonia's central bank governor Ardo Hansson told MNI News at the weekend that interest rates were appropriate at the moment and that all options were open with regards to a possible rate change in October.
Euribor rates have fallen significantly since the late last year when the ECB started flooding money markets with cheap long-term loans. The fall continued on Monday.
Three-month Euribor rates, traditionally the main gauge of unsecured bank-to-bank lending, fell to 0.248 percent from 0.250 percent.
Six-month Euribor rates also fell, to 0.482 percent from 0.487 percent. Shorter-term one-week rates remained unchanged at 0.086 percent while Eonia overnight rates dropped below the 0.100-percent mark for the first time, to 0.095 percent from 0.103 percent.
Dollar-priced three-month bank-to-bank Euribor lending rates fell to 0.597 percent from 0.601 percent, while overnight dollar rates stayed at 0.301 percent.
The ECB's move to stop paying interest on banks' deposits has prompted banks to make stronger use of the current account facility, which still pays 0.75 percent interest for the required reserves.
A total of 335 billion euros was parked in the ECB's deposit facility overnight. Banks' current account deposits at the ECB dipped to 526 billion euros.
Euribor rates are fixed daily by the Banking Federation of the European Union (FBE) shortly after 0900 GMT.
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