Breaking news: The European Central Bank will launch a new covered bond purchase programme, ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet announced this (Thursday) afternoon at a press conference after a meeting of the Governing Council in Berlin.

The purchases will be for an intended amount of Eu40bn. It will be conducted in the primary and secondary markets by means of direct purchases. It will start in November and is expected to be fully implemented by the end of October 2012.

More details will be announced after the ECB governing council meeting of 3 November.

Read The Covered Bond Report tomorrow (Friday) for more.