FRANKFURT--Banks in the euro zone have prepaid another EUR5 billion of the three-year loans issued by the European Central Bank in late 2011, reducing the volume of the Eurosystem's balance sheet, a broad measure of risk in the single currency zone.
In the week ending Feb. 15, the volume fell 11.85 billion euros ($15.81 billion), or about 0.4% compared with the previous week, to its the lowest level in nearly a year, ECB data showed Tuesday.
The ECB issued three-year loans in December 2011 to mitigate the effects of the euro-zone debt crisis.
Banks can now repay their loans early on a weekly basis. On Jan. 30, the first day that they were allowed to do so, banks repaid EUR137 billion, in a show of confidence that financial markets are returning to health.
The Eurosystem comprises the ECB and the 17 euro-zone national central banks.
The balance sheet settled at EUR2.76 trillion last week, its lowest since early March last year. The balance sheet remains 3.5% larger than it was one year ago.
Write to Christopher Lawton at christopher.lawton@wsj.com
Dow Jones Newswires
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