At the start of 2015 the Governing Council extended its Asset Purchase Programme to include public sector securities; in December the duration of the programme was prolonged to at least the end of the first quarter of 2017; in March we decided to increase the amount of monthly purchases and to begin, as of June, purchasing investment-grade bonds issued by non-bank corporations.
It has been belatedly recognized that the severing of the long-term relationship between the originator and the borrower has contributed to the decline in credit quality.