And banks can fund their expanded asset base because at the same time deposits are attracted into the banks by the comfort of deposit insurance.
Today the IMF said very much the same thing – that if economic weakness persisted: "then some combination of the following would need to be considered: (i) expanded asset purchases by the Bank of England and (ii) temporary tax cuts.
Even though the Administration has expanded asset freezes and travel bans on individuals, and will require companies to report on their Burma investments, suspending sanctions, critics contend, "looks like it caved to industry pressure and undercut Aung San Suu Kyi," Arvind Ganesan, the director of the human-rights division of Human Rights Watch, told me.
One euro zone central banking source said five policymakers opposed the expanded asset-purchase plan: the central bank chiefs of Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Estonia, along with Executive Board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger, a German.
With labor in short supply and new mines becoming harder to find, the quickest and often cheapest way to expand assets is through acquisition.
"Much of this growth likely reflects involuntary lending, that is, banks expanding assets in response to liquidity commitments they extended during the previous good times," he said.
The assets of Janus have nearly tripled since the beginning of last year, and to effectively manage its rapidly expanding assets, the company has now closed half of its 16 equity funds.
This is different from later-stage investing, where individual firms expand assets under management when their industry grows.
Its investments today show that it is serious about pan-European broadband dominance and will leverage its expanding assets into a full spectrum of voice, data and television offerings.
