The repayment of the crisis loans is expected to start as early as next week, as the banks operating in the euro zone are returning to the profitability.
The withdrawal of loans from the European banks is likely to shoot up the interest rate in the region, while the ECB is planning to mitigate this negative effect with its forward guidance, Reuters reported.
The ECB was quoted by the news agency as saying that it was ready to cut interest rates or infuse more money into the euro zone economy if needed to bring down money market rates.
In order to clamp down the market interest rate, the central bank will implement another ultra-long-term funding operation (LTRO) with more favorable terms than the existing loans to attract banks.
In December 2011 and February 2012, banks operating in the euro area availed more than €1trn of three-year loans from the ECB in two LTROs, of which the first maturity time will be January 2015.
Although the lenders have the option to refund the loans early, they have already returned approximately a quarter of the money.
Most recently, the ECB said that five lenders are likely to pay back €3.705bn from the first LTRO on 11 September 2013, while two lenders would pay back €2.2bn from the second LTRO.
