the ecb does this on a regular basis through its monetary analysis, so we are well positioned to react to any signs of excessive money and credit growth which may pose risk to price stability over the medium term. the balance sheet items related to monetary policy operations include : main refinancing operations, longerterm refinancing operations, fine - tuning reverse operations, structural reverse operations, marginal lending facility, credits related to margin calls and securities held for monetary policy purposes. borio, claudio and p. disyatat 2009 ) “ unconventional monetary policies : an appraisal ” bis working paper no. 292. goodhart, charles ( 1995 ) “ central banks and the financial system ” mit press. bis central bankers ’ speeches if we look at broad money, however, it becomes clear that the underlying pace of monetary expansion remains moderate. at the end of 2008 – the period of the maximum rate of increase in the ecb balance sheet – the rate of m3 growth fell rapidly. from a peak of over 10 % over 2007, the annual growth rate in m3 slowed down to zero at the end of 2009, before turning positive again, though around moderate levels, during 2010 and 2011. from january to october 2011 in relation to the same period last year m3 has increased just by 2. 2 % and in the month of october m3 has even decreased by 59 billion euros in absolute terms. hence, while close scrutiny of future developments remains warranted, the evolution of m3 is not suggestive of any undesirable spillovers from non - standard monetary policy measures on the prospects for price stability. this confirms that the availability of central bank liquidity worked mainly, as intended, as a means to offset underlying funding tensions for banks. the large expansion of the ecb balance sheet was therefore instrumental in preventing a larger decline in m3. it is conceivable that, in the absence of non - standard measures, broad money growth could have fallen much further – possibly to the large, negative levels observed during the 1930´s great depression in the united states. 9 3. contagion, the monetary transmission mechanism and non - standard monetary policy let me now turn to a more detailed discussion of the non - standard measures implemented by the ecb. these measures must be tailored to the specific market segment, and to the specific disruption, which may prevail at a certain point in time. therefore, there cannot be a single non - standard policy tool : different tools must be activated

rather than a substitute, of standard interest rate decisions : they help ensure that standard policy produces its intended effects, rather than aiming to impart additional relaxation to the overall monetary policy stance. this feature distinguishes the non - standard monetary policy measures the ecb used so far from quantitative easing policies as pursued by other major central banks, because quantitative easing is designed as a substitute for standard interest rate policy when central bank rates have reached levels close to their zero lower bound and cannot be lowered further. this feature also illustrates that the introduction of non - standard measures does not imply the need for the ecb to manage a trade - off between short run inflation volatility and price stability in the longer run. the non - standard monetary policy measures that we have see article 127 ( 5 ) tfeu. see, for example, thornton, h. ( 1802 ), an enquiry into the nature and effects of paper credit of great britain, bordo, m. d. ( 1990 ), the lender of last resort : alternative views and historical experience, federal reserve bank of richmond economic review, january / february, or freixas, x., c. giannini, g. hoggarth and f. soussa ( 2002 ), lender of last resort : a review of the literature, in goodhart, c. a. e., and g. illing ( eds. ), financial contagion, crises and the lender of last resort – a reader, oxford university press. bis central bankers ’ speeches used so far are rather the means to ensure that standard ecb decisions can be effective at all horizons. there should therefore be no concern that our non - standard measures may produce spillovers on the ecb ’ s ability to maintain price stability. thanks to the possibility to separate standard and non - standard monetary policy actions, our non - standard measures do not restrict in any way our capacity to tighten the monetary policy stance when necessary. this has been clearly demonstrated by the governing council ’ s repeated decisions to change interest rates over the course of this year, while maintaining its non - standard monetary policy measures. in turn, our non - standard measures are temporary in both their nature and scope. once the impairments to the transmission process disappear they can be phased out, whereas the standard interest rate policy remains. in fact, many of our non - standard monetary policy measures phase out automatically, for example long - term refinancing operations at fixed