German banks take under $70 billion cheap ECB cash

Germany's banks have taken less than 10 percent of the 530 billion euros ($70 billion) of cheap funding provided by the European Central Bank (ECB) this week, a German newspaper reported.
Only around half of Germany's 15 biggest banks took part, with the offer mostly taken up by smaller savings and co-operative banks, Die Welt reported in an advance copy of an article to be published in its Monday edition, citing "well-informed" sources.
A total of 800 banks borrowed money in the ECB's liquidity operation on Wednesday, fuelling expectations that credit will flow to businesses and borrowing costs will ease for governments hit by the euro zone crisis. Die Welt said more than half of the 800 were German banks, with the fact they took less than 10 percent of the total cash reflecting how the German banking system is dominated by small players.
Germany has 2,000 banks, while Britain has just 405, Spain 415, Italy 785, Ireland 590 and France 1,147, according to ECB statistics. Italian banks took about 139 billion euros at the offer, led by Intesa Sanpaolo, which received 24 billion.