ECB announces asset purchase program, leaves key rates unchanged

The president of the European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi announced a purchase program of asset-backed securities (ABS) and new covered bonds at an ECB governing council meeting in Italy's Naples on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference at the end of meeting, Draghi said the ECB decided on key operational details of both the asset- backed securities (ABS) purchase program and the new covered bond purchase program.

"This would allow us to start purchasing covered bonds in mid-October and ABS in the fourth quarter of 2014," the ECB head announced. "The program will last for at least two years."

"Together with the series of targeted long-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) to be conducted until June 2016, these purchases will have a sizable impact on our balance sheet," Draghi added.

The asset purchase program was aimed at pumping money into the economy by bringing the ECB's balance sheet close to the size of 3 trillion euros (3.8 trillion U.S. dollars) it used to have at the beginning of 2012.

"The new measures will support specific market segments and play a key role in the financing of the economy," Draghi said.

Earlier in the day, the ECB also decided to keep its key interest rates unchanged.

Interest rates for the main refinancing operations, marginal lending and deposit facilities will remain unchanged at 0.05 percent, 0.30 percent and minus 0.20 percent respectively. Security was tight in Naples, where the governing council met, as around 20,000 protesters gathered for a march against austerity measures.