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If the banks’ free reserves continue to shrink as their balance sheets are reduced, the institutions are likely to resort to ECB lending again. That is why the ECB has decided to continue to lend the banks as much money as they want (quantity tender with full allocation). The interest rate at which the transactions are settled (main refinancing rate) is currently 4.5 percent. It is therefore 0.5 percentage points above the deposit rate. From September this year, this gap is expected to shrink to 0.15 percentage points. The interest rate for the marginal refinancing facility, through which banks can borrow money from the ECB in the event of extreme shortages, should in future be 0.25 percentage points above the main refinancing rate.