Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank said it approved the temporay use of credit claims as collateral in central bank funding operations by seven euro-area member central banks.

The central banks of Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Austria and Portugal will take part and publish the details on their websites, the ECB said in a statement released today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gabi Thesing in London at gthesing@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Fergal O’Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net