The European Central Bank has decided to open its books to the public for the first time. They record the discussions on the morning of January 22 when policymakers agreed a landmark 1.1 trillion euro quantitative easing package.<br /><br /> The minutes reveal some members were not in favour of the programme and called on the governing council to back purchases of corporate bonds instead.<br /><br /> The ECB also reported a steep rise in costs on Thursday. The bank’s annual accounts for 2014 showed a jump in wages and costs by a quarter from last year. It was also hit by its record low interest rates.<br /><br /> Those factors combined to show a drop in the ECB profits by almost a third to 989 million euros from 1,440 million.
