Italian banks slow to repay LTRO

Italian banks' repayments of liquidity drawn under the European Central Bank’s (ECB) long-term refinancing operation (LTRO) have been slower than in most other European countries, said Fitch on Wednesday. Analysts say Italy’s smaller banks are going to be increasingly incentivised to term out ECB liquidity with publicly syndicated covered bond issuance, but with stress test results due in October, time is running out.