PARIS LA DEFENSE TOUR EUROPE 10-11 October 2005

1. WORKING PARTY ON FINANCIAL STATISTICSOECD 2005 OCDEGROUPE DE TRAVAIL SUR LES STATISTIQUES FINANCIERES PARIS LA DEFENSE TOUR EUROPE 10-11 October 2005

2. Progress Report on theOECDFinancial Accounts database Working Party on Financial Statistics 10-11 October 2005 by Michèle Chavoix-Mannato, OECD/NAFS

3. M A I N O B J E C T I V E S • Inform Delegates on the situation of the database • Discuss possible developments

4. Inventory of information stored in the database • 2004data for most countries, excluding Canada, Czech Republic, Japan and Poland • 2003 and 2004data missing for Denmark and Mexico • Still 6 countries missing

5. Recommendation 1 All OECD member countries are invited, to submit all of the data requested regarding Financial accounts (transactions) and Financial balance sheets (stocks).

6. Inventory of information stored in the database

7. Recommendation 2 Member countries for which the OECD does not receive consolidated accounts are invited to make a particular effort to be able to transmit consolidated financial accounts (transactions) and financial balance sheets (stocks).

8. Data collection and Management • Questionnaire sent to non-EU countries only • All countries’ data processed by the OECD • A number of checks to maintain the quality • A lot of e-mails to solve problems entailing extra work • Recurrent problems and inconsistencies • Formatting; missing data; incorrect data • Same remarks to countries every year • No explanation when revising data • Incomplete set of data (last revised years only)

9. Recommendation 3 OECD Member countries are requested to check their data prior to submission in order to avoid exchanges of e-mail to sort out inconsistencies in the figures.   They are invited to provide information on the files sent so that the Secretariat has a full knowledge of their content.

10. Statistical and Methodological Developments • Data frequency • Integration of non-financial balance sheets • Sources and Methods • Standard presentation • Consolidation • Asset ‘Monetary Gold and SDRs’ • Unallocated sector

11. Data Frequency • Countries of the Euro zone: QuarterlyFinancial Accounts regularly transmitted to the ECB • Non European countries: Availability of quarterly financial accounts in most non European countries • OECD: Usefulness of quarterly data acknowledged Proposal for a simplified collection: • Sectors S13 and S14 –S15 • Instruments AF1 to AF7

12. QUESTION 1 Are the delegates of the WPFS favourable to the collection and the publication of quarterly financial balance sheets by OECD?  Are they ready to transmit information relating to financial stocks at the end of the quarter, for sectors S13 and S14-S15 and for instruments AF1 to AF7, within a time which does not exceed three months after the end of each quarter?

13. Integration of non-financial balance sheets • Usefulness of both non-financial and financial balance sheets • Suppplementary table 2600 in the OECD/Eurostat questionnaire on National Accounts • Few replies from countries • Special request on such availability to financial accountants • 5 countries: relatively high level of detail • 2 countries: possible submission of sparse data • 2 countries: no availability • 1 country: request transmitted to another body

14. Recommendation 4 OECDMember countries are highly invited to reply to the collection of the information required in table 2600 in order to enable the Secretariat to publish summary tables on the whole wealth of institutional sectors and to analyze them and establish international comparisons.

15. Sources and MethodsStandard presentation Importance of methodological information Possible automatic procedure to collect and update it EU countries replies to Eurostat’s questionnaire as a base for a template

16. Recommendation 5 To reduce at the same time the workload of European Union countries and that of the OECD Secretariat, the Working group on the Financial Statistics (WPFS) asks Eurostat to transmit to the OECD the answers to the questionnaire on the development of the financial accounts, established by Eurostat that it received from its Member States.

17. Sources and MethodsConsolidation Importance of detailed information relating to consolidation methods in countries Survey sent to countries in July 2005 14 countries have replied 10 countries consolidate both sectors and sub-sectors 8 countries consolidate all instruments

18. Recommendation 6 OECD Member countries that have not yet responded to the special survey on the consolidation of their financial accounts are invited to do so as soon as possible, and to provide as exhaustive information as possible.

19. Asset ‘Monetary Gold and SDRs’ (F1/AF1) • Three different methods to report the asset F1/AF1 in financial accounts and financial balance sheets • F1/AF1 reported both on the asset side of SectorS121 (and/or S1311) and on the asset side of SectorS2 (same value, opposite sign), • F1/AF1 reported on the asset side of SectorS121 (and/or S1311) and on the liability side of SectorS2 (same value, same sign), • F1/AF1 reported only on the asset side of SectorS121 (and/or S1311); no report in S2: neither on the asset side nor on the liability side.

20. Asset ‘Monetary Gold and SDRs’ (F1/AF1) – cont. • Eurostat’s recommendation • Two different methods: one for Financial Accounts, another one for Financial Balance Sheets • OECD point of view • Necessity of using of a common convention for all countries • Preference for balanced accounts for S1 and S2: • Transactions: B9FS1 = B9FS2 • Stocks: BF90S1 = BF90S2 • Ready to apply Eurostat’s convention if all countries agree

21. QUESTIONS 2 and 3 Q2. Are OECD Member countries favourable to the convention of recording the asset F1 of the S1 sector in the active side of the financial account (transactions) of the sector S2 (same value but opposite sign)?  Q3. Do they agree not to report the asset AF1 of the S1 sector in the S2 sector, in the financial balance sheet (stocks), neither in the active nor in the passive side?

22. Unallocated sector • Statistical errors due to a lack of information • either integrated into one of the institutional sector • such as Sweden • or reported under an additional sector, named « unallocated sector » • such as Canada, Norway, United States

23. QUESTION 4 Are delegates in favour of adding a column to the questionnaire on financial accounts and financial balance sheets so that countries that cannot neither allocate statistical errors to a specific sector by convention, nor distribute them between sectors could present these discrepancies in a separate sector, conventionally named ‘unallocated sector’?

24. Conclusions • The OECD Secretariat stresses on the necessity for more consistent and relevant data and metadata relating to the Financial accounts and Financial balance sheets, • It highlights the work to be done in the months ahead to improve the quality of the OECD database so that users can analyse and compare the statistics as rigorously as possible, • It also remind Delegates that such developments, which consume a great deal of energy and resources, can be implemented only with the active participation of the Member countries, which have been and will continue to be solicited by the OECD Secretariat, • The OECD Secretariat thanks all national delegates and experts for the work accomplished over the year since the WPFS last met and for their ongoing co-operation. THANK YOU