A $1.2 trillion liquidity crunch looms for Europe’s lenders,

  testing their ability to stand on their own after more than a decade of easy money from the European Central Bank. 

The biggest hurdle will come in late June, when banks will have to pay back about 478 billion euros, equivalent to some $525 billion, of ultracheap loans to the central bank. 

Those loans were handed out at the height of the pandemic to ensure banks kept lending as lockdowns brought business to a halt.

Italian banks, once a weak link in the European financial system, will be in the spotlight. 

They account for nearly 30% of the TLTROs that still need to be repaid and, unlike banks in Germany and France, don’t have enough extra cash parked at central banks to cover the repayments. 

WSJ 19 April 2023

https://www.wsj.com/articles/european-banks-say-goodbye-to-easy-money-70292f5

Targeted long-term refinancing operation - TLTRO

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2022/07/ecb-erbjod-2200-miljarder-euro-i.html