ECB says QE 'seems to be effective in supporting lending'

Frankfurt

THE European Central Bank (ECB) said its asset-buying programme is spurring credit in the euro area even as some lenders feel the pinch of tighter margins.

The ECB started buying private assets last year and expanded the programme in March to include sovereign bonds and agency debt to revive inflation. In its bank-lending survey for the first quarter of 2015 published on Tuesday, the Frankfurt- based institution said that the strategy is having an impact.