via the longer-term refinancing operations that started in December 2011 – was instrumental in counteracting the freezing of bank funding markets and in curtailing the risk of a credit crunch. The evidence also suggests that the shift in our policy strategy towards a more active support of bank lending has been successful.
The combination of targeted longer-term refinancing operations and large-scale asset purchases has been found to have induced an increase in bank lending throughout the euro area, as well as a simultaneous reduction in the exposure of banks in stressed countries to their domestic sovereigns.