At the ECB, such measures have always aimed at improving the transmission of standard policy decisions, but they have assumed different forms over time. In the first phase of the crisis, they were mainly aimed at banks with the objective of preventing a collapse of the interbank market.
As the financial crisis has evolved into a sovereign debt crisis, we have stepped up the size of our operations with banks, and we have also aimed at removing redenomination risk from government bond markets through the decision on Outright Monetary Transactions (OMTs).