Fall in banks' reliance on ECB

Irish banks borrowings from the European Central Bank fell to under €100 billion in January, but analysts speculated that the sharp decline was due to funding transfers.

According to the figures, Irish banks' funding from the Central Bank totalled €92.6 billion at the end of last month, compared with €107.2 billion at the end of December.

But Glas Securities took a cautionary approach to the news, saying it was sceptical that about whether the drop should be seen as positive for the Irish banks.

"It is important to note that the headline figure includes non-Irish banks who access the ECB from an Irish subsidiary," Glas wrote.

"We believe that Irish covered bank reliance on ECB funding has not dropped in this period. We would suggest that the sharp drop is more likely to be driven by a transfer of funding from and IFSC Bank to a foreign parent or bad bank vehicle over the course of January."