The eurozone banks can take a total of 489 billion euros (643 billion U.S. dollars) from the European Central Bank (ECB) via its first ever offering of 3-year funding, the ECB said on Wednesday.

It is the biggest ECB injection of credit into the banking system in the euro's 13-year history.

A total of 523 banks have submitted their request for the funding, the ECB said in a statement. The move is aimed at injecting liquidity to the banks.

Banks in the area can borrow from the ECB at an interest rate which will be the average of ECB's main interest rate over the next three years. The current benchmark rate is at a record low of 1.0 percent.

ECB President Mario Draghi urged banks to make full use of the measures taken by the ECB in order to step up the liquidity. He said earlier that the systematic risk was seriously hampering the functioning of the economy and the ECB saw no stigma attached to the use of central banking credit provisions. "Our facilities are there to be used," he said.

The governing council of the ECB decided on Dec. 8 to conduct two longer-term refinancing operations (LTROs) with a maturity of three years for the purpose of enhancing credit support measures to support bank lending and liquidity in the euro area money market.

At the same time, the ECB also decided to lower the threshold for the access to the LTROs by reducing the collateral from banks for loans and the ratio of reserves by banks at the ECB.

As eurozone banks exposed to the debt crisis make efforts to meet the new Basel III regulations, a new global standard on bank capital adequacy and liquidity, fears mount that they may cut their lending to the real economy.

Analysts believe the measures taken by the ECB will provide the banks with liquidity, which is necessary for the economic growth.

Xinhua