The Governing Council of the ECB created the targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) to support bank lending to the real economy, thus strengthening monetary policy transmission.

The first series of TLTROs was announced on 5 June 2014:

• It covered eight quarterly operations starting in September 2014 and maturing in September 2018; 
• In the first two operations, banks were entitled to a borrowing allowance of up to 7% of a specific part of their eligible loans. In the subsequent TLTROs, banks were able to borrow additional amounts, conditional on developments in their eligible lending activity in relation to the benchmark specified for each bank; 
• The interest rate on these operations corresponded to the rate on the main refinancing operations (MROs) prevailing at the time of the operation (with the exception of the first two operations, where a 10-basis point spread was applied to the MRO rate).

The second series of TLTROs (TLTRO-II) was announced on 10 March 2016, with the additional purposes of strengthening the Eurosystem’s accommodative monetary policy stance and increasing the incentive for bank lending to the real economy:

• It consisted of four quarterly operations, each with a maturity of four years, starting in June 2016; 
• Banks were able to borrow a total amount of up to 30% of a specific set of their eligible loans in the four operations as a whole; 
• The interest rate on these operations corresponded to the rate applied in the MROs prevailing at the time of allotment. In addition, banks were able to derive an interest rate benefit, conditional on developments in their eligible lending activity in relation to the benchmark specified for each bank. This implied a cut in the interest rate on these operations, which was at least equal to the deposit facility rate applicable at the date of allotment of each operation.

The third series of TLTROs (TLTRO-III) was announced on 7 March 2019 and comprised ten quarterly operations (seven on the announcement date), each with a maturity of three years, starting in September 2019: 

• This series aimed at preserving favourable bank lending conditions, ensuring the smooth transmission of monetary policy and further supporting the accommodative monetary policy stance. 
• Its conditions were successively eased (on 12 September 2019 and on 12 March, 30 April, 10 December 2020), in particular during the acute phase of the pandemic. On 27 October 2022, in view of the unexpected and extraordinary rise in inflation, conditions were readjusted to ensure that this instrument was consistent with the monetary policy normalisation process and to reinforce the transmission of policy rate increases to bank lending conditions;
• Banks were able to borrow a total amount of up to 55% of a specific set of their eligible loans in the ten operations as a whole; 
• The interest rate in each operation results from the weighting of the average level of the interest rate applicable to the MROs prevailing between the start of the operation and 22 November 2022 and the average interest rate level applicable to the MROs between 23 November 2022 and the repayment or maturity of the respective operation; 
• Furthermore, for banks maintaining the level of eligible lending in relation to the benchmark in the period from 1 March 2020 to 31 March 2021, the rate on TLTRO-III operations between 24 June 2020 and 23 June 2021 corresponds to the average interest rate on the deposit facility prevailing over this period, less 50 basis points, and in any case not higher than -1%;
• For banks maintaining the level of eligible lending in relation to the benchmark in the period from 1 October 2020 to 31 December 2021, the rate on TLTRO-III operations between 24 June 2021 and 23 June 2022 corresponds to the average interest rate on the deposit facility prevailing over this period, less 50 basis points, and in any case not higher than -1%;
• In the period prior to 24 June 2020 and between 24 June and 22 November 2022, the interest rate applied to banks maintaining the level of eligible lending in relation to the benchmark corresponds to the average interest rate on the deposit facility prevailing from the start of the respective operation until 22 November 2022, or until the repayment date, whichever was earlier. As of 23 November 2022, the interest rate to be applied corresponds to the average interest rate level on the deposit facility prevailing between this date and the time of repayment or maturity of the operation;
• For banks that do not reach the eligible lending benchmark in the period from 1 March 2020 to 31 March 2021 but meet the target set for the period from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2021, the average interest rate applied may be as low as the weighting of the average interest rate level on the deposit facility prevailing between the start of the operation and 22 November 2022 and the average interest rate level on the deposit facility between 23 November 2022 and the repayment or maturity of the respective operation;
• In any case, during the period from 24 June 2020 to 23 June 2022, the interest rate applied was never higher than the average interest rate level applicable to MROs over this period, less 50 basis points.