BBC: ECB lends $500bn€350bn to lower rates (18 December 2007)

All banks with enough collateral, and which submitted bids of at least 4.21%, received funds from the ECB.

The ECB said 390 banks across the eurozone had sought the funding.

The move - making the extra cash available over the next two weeks -will ease fears of a credit meltdown over the Christmas period, when banks need extra cash.

I mean, how is ease fears of a credit meltdown over the Christmas period, when banks need extra cash [to close their year-end books] different from Jérôme's temporarily convert securities into cash at the time of quarterly book closings, to make its accounts look better?

Lehman was using repo 105s to temporarily convert securities into cash at the time of quarterly book closings, to make its accounts look better (less leveraged, mainly).

At some point it ran out of securities that its (commercial) counterparties would accept as collateral for these very short term cash loans. And that's where apparently the Fed took over, by taking in junk in exchange for fresh cash.

Amazing