In the post Lehman environment (when banks in the euro area suffered the wave of contagion from the US subprime confidence crisis) and, again, in the face of an escalation in the debt crisis (when banks in selected countries suffered the consequences of a near-loss of market access of their sovereigns) our temporary credit operations were adapted so as to reduce banks’ liquidity and roll-over risks.
This meant providing banks with unlimited liquidity at a fixed price and with expanded maturity and against a wider pool of collateral: •  In the aftermath of Lehman’s demise, we changed the liquidity allotment system from one where we fixed the quantity of liquidity lent to banks (being confident that the market would distribute that quantity widely at a price that reflected our intended monetary policy stance) to one where we fixed the price of liquidity and let the market decide over the quantity that is needed to support that price.