All this can happen while the central bank’s policy rate is unchanged. Several major central banks have deployed this tool since the crisis, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Japan. Their experience shows that this tool can be effective in extending the central bank’s impact well out on the yield curve.
Funding for credit A third unconventional monetary policy tool that has been developed since 2009 is called funding for credit. The idea is to make sure that economically important sectors continue to have access to funding even when the supply of credit is impaired.