ECB Balance Sheet Hits Record $3.9 Trillion on History-Making Bank Loans

``The European Central Bank's balance sheet surged to a record 3.02 trillion euros ($3.96 trillion) last week, 31 percent bigger than the German economy, after a second tranche of three-year loans... "With the dramatic expansion of its balance sheet since last summer, the ECB has become the most active central bank in the world," said Klaus Baader, chief euro-area economist at Societe Generale in London.''