Here is a very good explanation of how the "loans" know as a Long Term Refinancing Operation are working with the ECB member banks.
How Gold, Silver And Platinum Will Respond To ECB's Money Printing
http://seekingalpha.com/article/315636-how-gold-silver-and-platinum-will-respond-to-ecb-s-money-printingToday, about 490 billion euros ($637 billion) worth of ultra-low interest "loans" will be delivered to European banks. This cash has been provided courtesy of the ECB, which denies that it will ever engage in printing money, like the Americans, Britons and Japanese have now done for many years. The "loans" are for a 3-year period. In return for the cash, the ECB accepts various forms of "collateral," which includes the debt of insolvent southern European sovereigns. This is the largest uptake of cash in the history of the European Union, including the cash given out by the ECB after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
That cash will, by that time, be safely invested in gold, silver, platinum and palladium!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!