The funding requested by Spanish banks to the European Central Bank (ECB) in September went down 2.7% to 378,176 billion after rising for 11 consecutive months, according to data released today by the Bank of Spain. The reduction was worth 10,56 billion compared to the month of August. This is the active balance which Spanish banks need to give back to the European institution over funding they have been granted. Loans requested by Spanish banks to the ECB have multiplied by five compared to September 2011 to 69,299 billion, highlighting the difficulty faced by Spanish banks in the interbank lending market.