The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to launch a new purchase programme which consists in purchases for an intended amount of €40 billion and in purchases that will have the capacity to be conducted in the primary and secondary markets and will be carried out by means of direct purchases. On the other hand, the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged.

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to launch a new covered bond purchase programme with two modalities. The first one will consist that the purchases will be for an intended amount of €40 billion and on the second one, purchases will have the capacity to be conducted in the primary and secondary markets and will be carried out by means of direct purchases. These purchases will begin in November 2011 and are expected to be completed by the end of October 2012.

In addition, the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 1.50%, 2.25% and 0.75% respectively.

On the other hand, the ECB also announces details of refinancing operations from October 2011 to 10 July 2012, previously presented in August 2011. The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to conduct two longer‑term refinancing operations (LTROs), one with a maturity of approximately 12 months, to be conducted in October 2011, and the other with a maturity of approximately 13 months, to be conducted in December 2011. The operations will be conducted as fixed rate tender procedures with full allotment. In both operations, the rate applied will be fixed at the average of the rates in the main refinancing operations (MROs) over the life of the relevant LTRO, and interest will be paid when each operation matures. These operations will be conducted in addition to the regular and special-term refinancing operations, which will be unaffected.