OECD Financial Accounts Databases Progress Report Working Party on Financial Statistics Paris, 9-10 October 2006 Michèle Chavoix-Mannato National Accounts and Financial Statistics OECD Statistics Directorate

Main objectives of this document To inform delegates to the Working Party on Financial Statistics (WPFS) on the situation concerning the Financial Accounts Database since the meeting that was held in October 2005 To present developments and improvements done by the Secretariat as well as by countries since the last meeting in accordance with the conclusions set at that meeting (quarterly data, non-financial assets, sources and methods using a standardized format)

Inventory of information included in the database (1) Flows and stocks The Financial Accounts database contains data for 27 OECD countries on both financial transactions and stocks : Data for the first time in 2006: Greece, Ireland and Switzerland No data from Luxembourg, Iceland and New Zealand Transactions only: Mexico Stocks only: Switzerland Limited sectors: Turkey (sectors S121-S122 only)

Inventory of information included in the database (2) Consolidation and Time Consolidation: (to be further discussed later in the meeting) All countries provide both consolidated and non consolidated tables except AUS and MEX: consolidated only CAN, CHE, GBR, IRE, JPN and USA: non-consolidated only KOR: just changed Time coverage on 05-10-2006 : Table 610: all countries up to 2005, except POL, MEX Table 620: all countries up to 2005, except JPN and POL Table 710: all countries up to 2005, except POL SWI Table 720: all countries up to 2005, except CAN, CHE, JPN, POL, SVK

Data collection and management (1) Transmission of data and messages Questionnaire sent to non-European OECD countries in May 2006, with a deadline of 31 August 2006 All countries have either sent updated data or announced a slight delay The recommendation to send both consolidated and non-consolidated data is not respected, except by Turkey Agreement with Eurostat for EU countries All messages sent by Eurostat to its Member States are copied to OECD Replies from EU countries to Eurostat are very seldom copied to OECD No European country, except Norway, inform OECD of the content of its files

Data collection and management (2) Problems Format: Not all non-European countries do use the requested format Time coverage: Countries do not systematically provide data over the whole period revised Errors: A lot of inconsistencies are found in files transmitted Recommendations: The recommendations of the last WPFS meeting have not been respected

DEVELOPMENTS SINCE LAST OCTOBER As reported in the 2005 WPFS summary record Quarterly financial accounts There was a general preference for a full submission of quarterly data Without resources it would not be possible for OECD to collect and process them Non-financial assets There was a general support for their collection and it was decided that OECD should address the Table 2600 to its financial network Sources and Methods Non-European countries supported the use of the Eurostat’s framework to gather methodological information

Quarterly financial accounts data (1) Non-European countries Five countries have full quarterly accounts: AUS: from Q3 1988 3 months after the end of the quarter CAN: from Q1 1961 60 to 75 days after the end of the quarter USA: from Q1 1952 5 weeks after the end of the quarter NOR: from Q4 1995 1-2 months after the end of the quarter KOR: from Q1 2005 3 months after the end of the quarter Four countries have no plan to produce quarterly accounts: CHE, JPN, MEX, TUR

Quarterly financial accounts data (2) European countries All Euro Area countries have full quarterly accounts According to the ECB requirements, data are available from Q4 1997/Q1 1998, with a time lag of 110 days All EMU countries have derogations up to Q4 2008, except Greece (no derogation) and Spain and Portugal (up to Q2 and Q4 2007 respectively) Five non-Euro area countries have quarterly accounts Either both stocks or transactions (GBR, HUN, SWE) Or stocks only (DNK, SVK) Two non-EMU countries do not have quarterly accounts

Quarterly financial accounts data (3) Conclusion It is clear that more and more countries compile quarterly financial accounts The use of this information to estimate annual data very soon after the end of the year would be apreciated by economists

Non-financial assets (1) National Accounts network Except for three countries (AUS, CAN, JPN), no Table 2600 (part of the NA questionnaire) has been sent back to OECD Financial accounts network of Non-European countries Table 2600 was sent in May 2006 Three countries (CHE, MEX, NZL) replied they have no such data Four countries sent data: AUS, CAN, JPN (S1 only), NOR (AN1111 S14-S15 only) For KOR and USA, data should be transmitted soon Reply is still expected from TUR and ISL

Non-financial assets (2) Financial accounts network of European countries Table 2600 was sent more recently Nine countries have sent data: BEL, CZE, DEU, DNK, FIN, FRA, NLD, POL, SVK Two countries had informed that they have such data but have not sent them yet: AUT, HUN All other countries have not replied yet

Non-financial assets (3) Conclusion Less than half countries have provided non-financial asset data and the coverage is limited either to some items or to some sectors Countries which have not sent data or have not transmitted the request to their colleagues in the NA network are invited to do so.

Sources and Methods (1) Standardized format: Eurostat has conducted such a survey and transmitted all replies to OECD The OECD has used the framework and either add some instructions to receive more comparable information or suppress some questions

Sources and Methods (2) Supplementary methodological information: Two specific and more detailed surveys have been prepared. Their results will be presented later in this meeting The consolidation survey sent to all OECD countries in July 2005 The valuation survey sent to non-European countries in September 2006

Sources and Methods (3) Conclusion The survey on Sources and Methods will be sent to non-European countries after the meeting All information received will be summarised and sent back for validation before being imported into the OECD Metastore database and available on OECD.Stat

Conclusion The Secretariat aware of the difficulties and lack of resources in Member countries thanks all of them for their great co-operation. It has however to insist on the completeness and quality of financial accounts and global balance sheets provided. The OECD will continue to spend time and energy to improve the quality and usefulness of its Financial Accounts databases.