Towards a common European business register ECB presentation at the Business Registers Seminar Geneva, June 2007

Overview European statistics: a brief introduction Registers today: the background Towards a common European business register Main goals, advantages and challenges

European statistics Memorandum of Understanding Eurostat/ECB - avoids gaps and overlaps To perform its tasks, ECB uses mainly ESCB statistics and ESS statistics Both Eurostat and the ECB cooperate intensively on statistical issues of common interest Both ESCB and ESS have a close and fruitful dialogue in European fora: STC, CMFB, SPC, …

Registers today (I) Registers currently used to produce ESCB statistics: –MFI List –ECB Sector Manual MFI List - exhaustive register compiled jointly by all EU NCBs using modern technologies Similar lists for Other Financial Intermediaries are under preparation

Registers today (II) ECB Sector Manual: Used to classify counterparties to monetary transactions, by all ESA sectors Based on (national) existing registers Reveals a wide range of national lists published and maintained by different institutions For efficiency reasons, respondents and compilers may favour a single national register e.g. as required by Business Registers Regulation

Registers today (III) EuroGroups Register: ECB notes the importance and urgency of this project ESCB involvement desirable in view of: –Interest in sharing the data –ESCB expertise with the financial sector –ECB invited to become a member of the Steering Group

Towards a common register (I) Assess feasibility of combining registers (national registers, EuroGroups Register, ECB Sector Manual, MFI List, etc.) Possibly a joint ESS/ESCB database system Regular online updating by NSIs, NCBs, others Well-defined governance structure (incl. distribution of tasks)

Towards a common register (II) Well-defined quality management network Maintenance should be done at national level, with a role for Eurostat and ECB in the case of multinationals Available to respondents, statistical compilers and possibly other parties (if confidentiality is not an issue)

Main goals, advantages and challenges (I) Reduce burden of respondents and costs of data collection Enhance quality and consistency of European statistics Modern technologies reduce the costs of and facilitate dealing with large files Unique identifier allocation system may be a challenge

Main goals, advantages and challenges (II) Different national confidentiality considerations may currently prove to be cumbersome Alternative is progress in successive steps - e.g. first via database with links to national (diverse) registers Goals, advantages and challenges to be discussed at European level (CMFB)

Contact at the ECB Thank you for your attention! Alda Morais