The European Central Bank could start unwinding exceptional steps taken to combat the financial market crisis as early as December under a softly-softly “exit strategy” apparently under discussion at the Frankfurt-based institution.

Axel Weber, Germany’s Bundesbank president, on Thursday gave the strongest hint yet that the ECB would soon stop providing banks with unlimited one-year loans at record low interest rates. Banks’ dependence on central bank liquidity was “certainly not a sustainable business model”, he warned.