PARIS LA DEFENSE TOUR EUROPE 11-12 October 2004 WORKING PARTY ON FINANCIAL STATISTICS OECD 2004 OCDE GROUPE DE TRAVAIL SUR LES STATISTIQUES FINANCIERES PARIS LA DEFENSE TOUR EUROPE 11-12 October 2004

THE NEW FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS DATABASE Working Party on Financial Statistics 11-12 October 2004 by Michèle Chavoix-Mannato, OECD/NAFS

M A I N O B J E C T I V E S Developments since October 2003 Publications Future work

Developments since October 2003 Focusing on financial flows and stocks Focusing on the quality of data provided Collecting methodological information

INVENTORY Financial Accounts Flows 23 countries 16 both consolidated and non-consolidated 4 only consolidated 3 only non-consolidated

INVENTORY Financial Balance Sheets Stocks 21 countries 15 both consolidated and non-consolidated 3 only consolidated 3 only non-consolidated

Financial Instruments F2 no sub-instrument for 4 countries F3 no sub-instrument for 4 countries F4 no sub-instrument for 7 countries F5 no sub-instrument for 9 countries F6 no sub-instrument for 6 countries F7 no sub-instrument for 6 countries

Institutional Sectors Data provided for most sectors and sub-sectors with exceptions Sub-sectors regrouped S121 & S122: GER, U-K, ITA S123 & S124: AUS, CAN, MEX, SVK, SWE, USA S1311 & S1312 & S1313: GER S1312 & S1313: AUS, USA Sub-sector included in another sector S124: BEL (in S11) Sectors not available S124: GER, U-K, KOR S1313: MEX S1314: AUS, U-K, NOR, USA

P u b l i c a t i o n s Volume IIIa: Financial Accounts of OECD Countries Flows Volume IIIb: Financial Balance Sheets of OECD Countries Stocks

Statistical data Cross tables presenting transactions and stocks as matrices: “institutional sectors” as columns and “financial instruments” as rows, for 2002 (with a few exceptions), for most institutional sectors : S.11, S.12 and its sub-sectors, S.13, S.1311, S.14+S.15, S.1 and S.2 Historical tables in the form of time series from 1991 to 2002 when available, for a number of institutional sectors: S.11, S.12, S.13, S.1311, S.14+S.15, S.1 and S.2

Methodological information Instruments Sectors Consolidation Unit Source

Future work Methodological survey Other possible development New joint OECD/Eurostat questionnaires Methodological survey Other possible development

New joint OECD/Eurostat questionnaires Tables currently requested Financial Accounts by sector (transactions), CO and NCO Financial Balance Sheets (stocks), CO and NCO New tables Other Changes in volume, NO and NCO Revaluation Accounts, NO and NCO Financial Accounts, with counterpart information, NCO Financial Balance Sheets, with counterpart information, NCO

Recommendation 1 All OECD member countries are invited to focus on transactions and stocks of financial assets and liabilities. Countries that have supplied only part of their financial accounts and/or balance sheets are especially requested : To submit both non-consolidated and consolidated data; To submit both financial accounts (transactions) and financial balance sheets (stocks).

Methodological survey Importance of detailed information on methodological aspects of financial accounts to ascertain the quality of data and to undertake analyses and international comparisons Need to collect information on the treatment of instruments, on the coverage of sectors and on the consolidation methods by the mean of a methodological survey (reference SNA93/ESA95)

Recommendation 2 The OECD member countries are invited to make their views known on the following suggestion: Countries would post standardised methodological information about the financial accounts on their Internet sites and update it regularly. The OECD would use an automated procedure to compile this information and to publish it.

Other possible development In the context of the pilot-project on households’ financial assets, it is proposed to add a yearly table which includes a more detailed nomenclature of two financial instruments (F52 and F61), based on the risk borne by households. However, to better estimate households’ wealth, it would be necessary to also know the non-financial assets they hold

Recommendation 3 Given the usefulness of ascertaining the value of non-financial assets, for the household sector in particular, the OECD Secretariat recommends that a request for this information be added to the special table to be discussed under Item 5 of the agenda.

Conclusions Thanks to you, the OECD Financial Accounts database has been developped and publications have been issued. New efforts will be requested to improve not only the quality and quantity of data provided, but also the methodological information which is necessary to accompany data. THANK YOU