At the end of the first phase of the turmoil, the relative importance of the operations was almost inverted (with MROs accounting for roughly EUR180 bn versus EUR270 bn for the longer-term operations).
As mentioned above, the ECB increased the frequency of operations to respond with greater sensitivity to shifts in the demand for reserves and also occasionally adjusted the tender specification of its operations, particularly on 9 August when – given the large amount of uncertainty about the severity of market illiquidity – it was deemed more efficient to move from the standard variable-rate tender without pre-announced allotment to a fixed-rate tender  BIS Review 6/2009  3  with full allotment.