View of the headquarters of the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC), Chinas central bank, in Beijing, June 27, 2015. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING - China's central bank said Thursday that it had pumped 437 billion yuan ($64.7 billion) into the financial system in open market operations via the medium-term lending facility (MLF).

The MLF was first introduced in 2014 to help both commercial banks and China's three policy banks maintain liquidity by allowing the banks to borrow from the central bank by using securities as collateral.

The fresh funds were injected into 21 financial institutions, according to the People's Bank of China.

Interest rates for MLF loans were unchanged at 2.85 percent for the six-month loans, worth a total of 230 billion yuan; and 3 percent for the one-year loans, worth 207 billion yuan .

CITIC Securities said the move made a cut in the bank reserve requirement ratio less likely as the central bank would rely more on open market operations to ensure liquidity.

China's central bank has repeatedly stressed the need to maintain a prudent monetary policy with timely fine-tuning to create a favorable environment for both growth and debt reduction.