FRANKFURT: Banks will return 4.015 billion euros ($5.48 billion) in long-term loans to the European Central Bank next week, after the ECB started to charge for holding banks' excess cash overnight and promised more long-term loans.

The amount that banks will repay on July 9 is slightly less than this week's crisis-loan repayments of 4.48 billion euros and just under 4.3 billion forecast in a Reuters poll.

The ECB cut interest rates last month to record lows - the deposit rate is now below zero - and took several steps to boost lending to euro zone companies. It also pledged to do more if needed to fight off the risk of a Japan-like deflation.

The measures include a new four-year loan scheme, with which the ECB hopes to encourage banks to boost their lending.

Banks, getting into shape for a Europe-wide banking stress test which will check how they would hold up if they suffered various shocks, are repaying funds they took from the ECB in late 2011 and early 2012.

On Friday, the ECB said three banks would repay 645 million euros from the first of those LTROs on July 9 and seven banks would pay back 3.370 billion from the second LTRO.