The European Central Bank announced that it will be taking added measures to ensure banking system liquidity over the holidays.

The ECB’s governing council decided, by means of a teleconference, to lengthen the maturity of the main refinancing operation settling on Dec. 19 to two weeks. The new maturity date will be Jan. 4, 2008, instead of Dec. 28.

“In this operation, the ECB will aim to satisfy the banking sector’s liquidity needs for the entire two-week period, covering both the Christmas holidays and the end of the year,” it reports. “The allotment amount in this operation will be decided in full consistency with the aim of keeping interest rates close to the minimum bid rate.”

The ECB adds that it continues to monitor liquidity conditions to keep very short-term rates close to the minimum bid rate.

“In this regard it continues to aim at balanced liquidity conditions at the end of the maintenance period. If needed, the ECB also stands ready to steer liquidity towards more balanced conditions earlier in the maintenance period,” it says.