Central banks around the world have relied on large-scale asset purchase programmes to further stimulate the economy and fulfil their mandates after hitting the zero lower bound. Accordingly, when the Governing Council decided on 22 January to launch the PSPP, it agreed unanimously that it is a monetary policy tool in a legal sense, although views differed on the timing of such a programme.
The crisis highlighted the importance of having more 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  information on these aspects. This implies, among other things, further enhancing our due diligence on external credit ratings, for which greater transparency on the judgements underlying these ratings is essential. And it implies making better use of supervisory information.