The expansionary measures taken by all the central banks significantly enlarged their balance sheets in ways that reflect differing national financial structures. Bank credit in the euro area is relatively more important than in the United States (around 140 per cent of GDP compared with 60 per cent). Accordingly the Eurosystem has so far focused on banks.
The introduction in October last year of a system of bank funding at a fixed rate, limited only by the availability of collateral, was a highly important development; this, along with other measures, enabled banks to meet their liquidity requirements in a situation of money market paralysis.