It's the last major scheduled event in the euro crisis-watchers calendar: the European Central Bank will offer banks the first of its unlimited three-year loans on Wednesday.

Expectations are building that take-up could be huge as banks come under political pressure to borrow the money to buy government bonds. But while estimates of demand are rising - and yields on government bonds from some financially stressed countries are falling - the bulk of the money is likely to be used to replace maturing funding rather than to buy sovereign bonds.