ECB Text:ECB Launches New Monetary And Financial Statistics

FRANKFURT (MNI) – The following is the verbatim text of a press
release issued by the ECB, relating to the release of new
monetary and financial statistics:

ECB LAUNCHES NEW MONETARY AND FINANCIAL STATISTICS

The European Central Bank has released new statistics today that
are based on data reported by monetary financial institutions (MFIs),
financial vehicle corporations (FVCs), and insurance corporations and
pension funds (ICPFs). These enhanced and new statistics will contribute
further to monetary analysis and also, to some extent, to the analyses
performed as part of the other tasks of the ECB and European System of
Central Banks, such as those relating to financial stability or
financial integration in Europe.

The development of the new statistics and the respective reporting
frameworks are the outcome of a process started in 2005, involving
policy-makers, analysts, data producers and financial institutions. That
process consists of periodically enhancing and complementing monetary
and financial statistics so as to ensure that they remain fit for use in
an environment of financial innovation and changing user needs. The
close involvement of users and reporting institutions aims at finding
the appropriate balance between the new datasets necessary to underpin a
sound economic and financial analysis and the reporting burden. The
collection of harmonised monetary and financial statistics is based on
ECB regulations.

The recent enhancements considerably broaden the statistical
coverage of the euro area financial sector and of new financial
instruments. First, the collection of monthly statistics on MFI balance
sheet items and MFI interest rates has been substantially enriched with
new breakdowns. MFI balance sheet statistics provide core information
for the ECB’s analysis of monetary aggregates and their counterparts. In
addition to the dataset on balance sheet items, the second important
dataset reported by MFIs refers to interest rates on loans and deposits
broken down for households and non-financial corporations.

Second, euro area statistics on MFI lending have been enhanced by
new data on securitisations and other loan transfers by MFIs.
Securitisation is a practice where an asset or a pool of cash flow
producing assets is converted into marketable securities. Flows of loans
on MFI balance sheets are affected by securitisation activity, loan
sales and, in the period following the financial crisis, transfers of
impaired loan assets to so-called “bad bank” structures. New data for
the period as of end-2009 allow flows in credit to be adjusted for loans
transferred and derecognised from MFI balance sheets, and thus better
reflect underlying developments in lending to the non-MFI sector.

Third, the release of quarterly balance sheet statistics for
financial vehicle corporations and for insurance corporations and
pension funds has further improved the statistical coverage of the euro
area financial sector and provides new information on non-bank financial
sub-sectors that have grown substantially over the last decade.
Financial vehicle corporations are entities typically set up for the
purpose of carrying out securitisations of loans or other assets and
issuing debt securities which are backed by these assets. The new FVC
statistics are thus closely related to the new MFI securitisation
statistics mentioned earlier.

Finally, the new ECB statistics for euro area insurance
corporations and pension funds permit the analysis of the structure of,
and trends in, a sector that accounts for more than one-third of all
non-bank financial intermediaries (as measured by total assets). The new
dataset, which is derived from existing supervisory and statistical
sources, provides for more detailed and timely statistics on the assets
and liabilities of insurers and pension funds.

More information on the new statistics can be found in the attached
background note “First results of the new monetary and financial
statistics”.

Release schedule

— Data on MFI balance sheet items and MFI securitisations are
released around the 19th working day of each month. The next
release will be on 30 June 2011, together with the press
release “Monetary developments in the euro area.”

— MFI interest rate statistics data are released around the 23rd
working day of each month. The next release will be on 6 July
2011. It will include new data, as well as revisions to past
periods, and will be accompanied by a regular press release
with an enhanced content and design.

— FVC statistics are released on the 35th working day after the
end of the quarter. The next release will be on 18 August 2011
and will include data for the second quarter of 2011.

— ICPF statistics will be released on 13 July 2011 and will
include data for the first quarter of 2011. Subsequent
releases will take place around three months after the
end of the quarter.

Notes

— Explanatory notes on MFI balance sheet statistics are
available on the ECB’s website at

http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/money/aggregates/bsheets/html/

index.en.html

— Explanatory notes on MFI interest rate statistics are
available on the ECB’s website at

http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/money/interest/interest/

html/index.en.html

— Explanatory notes on FVC statistics are available on the ECB’s
website at

http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/money/fvc/html/index.en.html

— Explanatory notes on ICPF statistics are available on the
ECB’s website at

http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/money/icpf/html/index.en.html

–Frankfurt bureau: +49-69-720 142. Email:frankfurt@marketnews.com