08.14 Since then, the tone has changed. Lloyds boss Antonio Horta-Osorio said last week that "it makes sense for our euro assets," to borrow from the ECB, while the FT reported that RBS and Lloyds, which are both backed by the UK taxpayer, could borrow as much as €15bn. 08.03 And what about the British banks? Barclays and Lloyds explicitly stated that they did not participate in the December offering. HSBC said in its annual report that it received €5.2bn, mainly in France, while RBS took £5bn, according to Morgan Stanley. 07.55 Although we will only know the headline numbers today (i.e. how much banks borrowed and how many took part), it's worth taking a look at this note by Morgan Stanley, which offers insight into who's borrowing, and how much. Page 17 examines how some of Europe's major lenders approached the first LTRO and how they think banks will approach the second (click on the link to see a larger version): Morgan Stanley LTRO preview 07.45 European banks borrow from the ECB at 1pc, and can take advantage of "carry trades" that allow them to borrow the cheap cash and get returns elsewhere (such as the Italian and Spanish short term debt markets) at a higher interest rate. The last allotment in December saw a total 523 banks gorge on €489bn of cheap ECB loans. At around 10.15am (UK time), we'll know how this second round fared. Banks are predicted to ask for around €470bn this time around, according to the median average of 28 banks surveyed by Bloomberg. But the predictions vary, with Japanese bank Nomura forecasting a €300bn take-up, while Germany's Norddeutsche Landesbank predicts an alloted amount of €750bn. They may not be the sexiest four words floating around this morning - but the outcome of the second round of cheap three-year loans offered by the European Central Bank (ECB) is what markets around the world will be waiting for.