The European Central Bank may be making it harder for theregion's banks to revive bond sales by giving them access tounlimited cheap cash.

Issuance of senior unsecured euro debt by banks fell about 35percent to 51.4 billion euros ($67 billion) in the six months endedFeb. 6 from the same period a year earlier, data compiled byBloomberg show. The average relative yield on the debt is 307 basispoints, up from about 200 before the region's sovereign debt crisisworsened in June, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch's EURCorporates, Banking index.

The ECB pumped 489 billion euros into the banking system inDecember through the so-called longer-term refinancing operation tohead off a potential credit crunch. The central bank is planninganother injection of three-year loans on Feb. 28. Participation bylenders may total a further 1 trillion euros, according to MarchelAlexandrovich, an economist at Jefferies International Ltd. inLondon.