ECB Said to Expand Greek Bank Lifeline to Cover Fleeing Deposits

The European Central Bank approved a 3.3 billion-euro ($3.8 billion) expansion to emergency funding for Greece’s banks, a euro-area official with knowledge of the talks said, as deposit flight continued amid uncertainty over whether the country would remain in the euro.

At a meeting of the ECB’s Governing Council in Frankfurt on Wednesday, officials approved an increase in the maximum amount of emergency liquidity assistance the country’s lenders can draw down from their local central bank, said the person, who asked not to be named because the decision wasn’t public. Lenders can now access 68.3 billion euros, up from the 65 billion euros set last week, according to the official.