Size matters: Mario Draghi disappoints financial markets

It turns out size does really matter, well when it comes to central bank balance sheets anyway. While confirming that purchases of asset back securities (ABS) and covered bonds will begin mid-October, for at least two years, Mario Draghi disappointed investors by not announcing the actual size of the bond purchase program. After the failure of their first targeted liquidity auction last month, the concern among investors is how the ECB are actually going to return their balance sheet to early 2012 levels, circa €2.8 trillion, up from the current €2 trillion. Bank shares fell on the news as the ECB bailout may now not be as clear-cut as anticipated.