Economist Richard Werner, currently a professor at the University of Southampton, lays claim to the coining of the expression quantitative easing in the mid-nineties. At the time, Werner was chief economist at Jardine Fleming Securities (Asia) Ltd. and Assistant Professor at Tokyo’s Sophia University. The expression, a literal translation of Werner’s use of Japanese ryoteki kinyu kanwa, hit mainstream exposure in 2001 when the process was adopted as official policy by the Bank of Japan in an attempt to combat domestic deflation.