Eurozone banks have deposited record amounts of cash at the European Central Bank, just days after it provided unprecedented levels of liquidity in an effort to reduce tension in the financial system.

Banks placed almost €412bn ($539bn) over the Christmas holiday in the ECB’s deposit facility, which attracts a low rate of interest and in normal times is typically used by banks only to park excess cash, often at a loss.

The record use of the overnight facility comes after more than 520 banks borrowed €489bn from the ECB last week under a new three-year liquidity scheme, suggesting that much of the funding provided by the central bank has yet to be put to use by banks, analysts said. But they also cautioned that it was too early to judge the success of the ECB’s action in granting the loans, its largest single liquidity operation, at a time of thin holiday trading.