(Updates with dates of next loans in third paragraph.)

Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank said six euro-area banks asked for three-month dollar loans in the first of three operations.

The European lenders asked for a total of $1.353 billion in the ECB’s 84-day dollar tender, the Frankfurt-based central bank said in a statement today. The six banks will pay a fixed rate of 1.09 percent for the funds. The ECB also allotted $500 million to one bank in its weekly dollar operation. The ECB doesn’t identify the banks it lends to.

The ECB announced last month that it would coordinate with the Federal Reserve and other central banks to conduct three separate dollar liquidity operations to ensure banks have enough of the U.S. currency through the end of the year as the sovereign debt crisis roils money markets. The three-month loans are in addition to the bank’s regular seven-day dollar offerings and are fixed-rate tenders with full allotment. The next loans will be offered on Nov. 9 and Dec. 7.

European banks need dollars to fund their own lending in the U.S. as well as to clients elsewhere doing business in the world’s leading reserve currency.

--Editors: Matthew Brockett, Simone Meier

To contact the reporter on this story: Jana Randow in Frankfurt at jrandow@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Matthew Brockett at mbrockett1@bloomberg.net