ZURICH (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will pay more attention to the quality of the securitised loans it plans to buy than the quantity, ECB Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny told an audience of students and academics in Zurich on Monday.
The ECB said last week it would launch a new programme to buy asset-backed securities (ABS) and covered bonds, along with offering banks four-year loans in September, to pump more money in the banking system and boost lending and growth.
"Quality is more important than quantity," Nowotny said in a speech.
The ECB said banks could borrow up to 400 billion euros (320.86 billion pounds) in four-year loans at ultra-low rates of 0.15 percent in two offerings in September and December and even more if they keep lending to households and companies.
ECB President Mario Draghi said during his post-policy meeting news conference last week the aim was to bring the ECB's balance sheet back to early 2012 levels, around 3 trillion euros with the TLTROs and the new ABS and covered bond programme.
Its balance sheet now stands at around 2 trillion euros.
(Reporting by Katharina Bart, writing by Eva Taylor in Frankfurt)