The ECB announced the long-awaited expansion of asset purchases. The press release lists these main points:

• ECB expands purchases to include bonds issued by euro area central governments, agencies and European institutions
• Combined monthly asset purchases to amount to €60 billion
• Purchases intended to be carried out until at least September 2016
• Programme designed to fulfil price stability mandate

Less expected is the arrangement for the sharing of “hypothetical losses”. The ECB will directly be exposed to only 20% of the risk of the additional asset purchases.

Another ECB website provides an overview over the ECB’s open market operations.