ECB's Visco: ECB prepared to consider further measures after TLTRO

FXStreet (Łódź) - ECB governing council member and Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco said on Wednesday that the central bank was ready to consider implementing additional measures after the targeted longer-term refinancing operations, including asset purchases on a "large scale." He signaled that the ECB would expand the range of loans which could be used as collateral for its funding.

The ECB lawmaker suggested that the TLTRO could boost the Italian economy by 0.5% – 1.0% of GDP by 2016. The amount of TLTRO Italian banks can draw on is considerable and could exceed 200 billion euros, he projected.

Visco emphasized that during the financial crisis " inadequate, imprudent and incorrect behavior" of Italian banks had become evident.