Speeding up finite step - size updating of full QCD on the lattice

We propose various improvements of finite step-size updating for full QCD on the lattice that might turn finite step-size updating into a viable alternative to the hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm. These improvements are noise reduction of the noisy estimator of the fermion determinant, unbiased inclusion of the hopping parameter expansion and a multi-level Metropolis scheme. First numerical tests are performed for the 2 dimensional Schwinger model with two flavours of Wilson fermions and for QCD with two flavours of Wilson fermions and Schrödinger functional boundary conditions.