 Beginning in March 2009, the Bank of England had purchased around £165 billion in assets as of September 2009 and around £175 billion in assets by the end of October 2009.At its meeting in November 2009, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to increase total asset purchases to £200 billion.Most of the assets purchased have been UK government securities (gilts); the Bank has also purchased smaller quantities of high-quality private-sector assets.