1. What is the ECB going to do? The ECB is widely expected to announce that it will accelerate and broaden its efforts to expand its balance sheet. 2. How will it do this? The ECB is currently buying two types of assets: covered bonds and ABS. Covered bonds are bank-issued bonds frequently backed by a pool of mortgages the bank retains some of those exposures on its balance sheet rather than selling all of it to other investors. It is also buying asset-backed securities; mostly consumer and small business loans packaged by banks. In addition, the ECB is expanding its balance sheet by granting more low interest rate ... (full story)