Brussels, 06/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - In a press release published on Thursday 5 March 2009, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that monetary policy intervention enabled the Eurosystem to accumulate currency reserves of €28.7 billion in 2008 (up from €23.2bn in 2007), which will be shared out among the central banks of the member countries in proportion to the amount of capital they have contributed to the ECB. In 2008, the collapse of five financial institutions (Lehman Brothers Bankhaus AG, three subsidiaries of Icelandic banks and Indover NL of the Netherlands) cost the Eurosystem some €10.3bn. The companies were unable to repay loans from the ECB (via Germany's Bundesbank, the central bank of Luxembourg and Nederlandsche Bank). The collateral provided by the banks when taking out the loans proved to be toxic and worth very little. The Governing Council has decided that the cost of any default should be borne among the Eurosystem central banks in proportion to the amount of the ECB's capital that they hold. In general, the ECB recommends that between them, central banks set aside €5.7 billion (divided fairly among themselves) in their 2008 accounts to cover the risk of similar loan defaults. (A.B./transl.fl)