Euro area quarterly financial accounts : quality report 2017.
Date: 2018-07-23
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: data collection, debt, euro area, financial policy, household budget, macroeconomics, national accounts

Euro area and national 
quarterly financial accounts 

Quality Report 2017 

June 2018 

Contents 

Executive summary 

Statistical developments between 2016 and 2017 

Methodological soundness and statistical procedures 

Statistical issues affecting MIP indicators 

Introduction 

1.1  Scope of data coverage and structure of the report 

Methodological soundness and statistical procedures 

2.1  Securities holdings 

2.2  Coverage of other financial institutions 

2.3 

Financial derivatives 

2.4  Unlisted shares and other equity 

2.5 

Intra-NFC loans 

2.6  Sector classification of head offices, holding companies and 

special-purpose entities 

Timeliness and punctuality 

Data and metadata availability 

1 

2 

3 

4 

4.1  Completeness 

4.2  Accessibility 

4.3  Clarity 

5 

Accuracy and reliability 

5.1  Household financial investment and loan financing 

5.2  NFC financing 

5.3 

Financial corporations liabilities 

6 

7 

Internal consistency 

External consistency 

7.1  Consistency with non-financial sector accounts: vertical 

consistency 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Executive 
summary 

3 

3 

4 

6 

8 

8 

10 

10 

10 

11 

11 

11 

12 

13 

14 

14 

14 

16 

18 

19 

19 

20 

22 

24 

24 

1 

7.2  Consistency with balance of payments and international 

investment position statistics 

7.3  Comparison with other financial statistics 

Box 1  Quality indicators on financial accounts statistics underlying the 

Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure 

Annexes 

Annex 1 Detailed tables 

Annex 2 Methodological documentation of revision indicators 

Descriptive measures 

Size measures 

28 

30 

32 

38 

38 

48 

48 

49 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Executive 
summary 

2 

 
Executive summary 

This annual report provides a quality review of the quarterly euro area and national 
financial accounts.1 The report fulfils the formal requirement of the ECB Executive 
Board to inform the Governing Council of the quality of these statistics, as set out in 
Article 7(2) of Guideline ECB/2013/24 (hereafter the “ECB Guideline”).2 Furthermore, 
the report provides information supporting the Macroeconomic Imbalances 
Procedure (MIP) data quality assurance process as laid down in the “Memorandum 
of Understanding between Eurostat and the ECB/DG-S on the quality assurance of 
statistics underlying the MIP” (“the MoU”). 

The main principles and elements guiding the production of ECB statistics are 
contained in the statistics quality framework (SQF)3 and quality assurance 
procedures, published on the ECB’s website. On that account, this report provides 
an analysis of the statistical data output, covering the elements of: methodological 
soundness, timeliness, reliability and stability, internal consistency (completeness 
and validation of accounting restrictions) and external consistency with four other 
comparable statistical domains (non-financial quarterly sector accounts, b.o.p./i.i.p., 
monetary financial institutions (MFI) balance sheet items, and securities issues 
statistics). 

The descriptive and quantitative indicators used throughout this report are based on 
quarterly data as available in line with the European system of accounts (ESA 2010). 
Data and revisions published up to 27 October 2017 are included. Supporting 
information/tables and detailed information on how the indicators are computed can 
be found, respectively, in Annexes 1 and 2.  

Given the specificities of the MIP process and the responsibilities entrusted to the 
ECB in the context of the MoU, some indicators on the fitness for purpose of the data 
are presented in a box at the end of the report for all EU countries. The box draws on 
data up to end-2016 as transmitted in October 2017 and focuses on data availability, 
revisions, and sources and methods relevant for the financial accounts data 
underlying the MIP indicators. 

Statistical developments between 2016 and 2017 

The provision of national data and explanatory metadata improved in 2017. All euro 
area countries provided the mandatory data to the ECB and the data were generally 
timely and consistent. Countries provided quarterly so-called supplementary data at 
t+85 and full national financial accounts data at t+97 (since April 2017, previously at 

1   The principles underpinning this report can be found in the Public commitment on European Statistics 
by the ESCB. The ECB Statistics Quality Framework (SQF) and quality assurance procedures, 
published in April 2008, builds upon the ESCB public commitment. 
2   Recast of Guideline ECB/2013/24, of 25 July 2013 (as amended). 
3   The SQF is available here. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Executive 
summary 

3 

t+100) as required by the Guideline. The timeliness of the publication of the early 
release of integrated euro area accounts was improved from approximately t+102 to 
approximately t+94 from July 2017 onwards. Since October 2017 the ECB publishes 
additional national financial accounts backdata according to ESA 2010, starting in 
1999Q1 (or the first quarter of the year in which a country became a member of the 
European Union) for all euro area countries. With the changes to data transmission 
and dissemination in 2017, all euro area countries have fully implemented the ECB 
Guideline and its revised transmission programme, which was adopted in 2013. 

The mandatory metadata transmissions to the ECB governed by the Guideline cover 
revisions and major events. While all euro area countries generally provided 
metadata and additional explanations when requested, the quality of the metadata 
provided still differs considerably across countries. A new metadata template was 
introduced in 2016, together with a request for the enhanced metadata provision 
from smaller euro area countries as well for significant developments that are below 
the threshold set by the Guideline. Overall, 17 countries have regularly delivered 
metadata on revisions and 13 countries have delivered metadata on major events. 
One country did not provide metadata (either on revisions or major events) in two 
transmissions of national data. Countries are recommended to review and, if 
necessary, improve their current reporting practices. This is also necessary to enable 
the ECB to fulfil its tasks under the MIP quality assurance procedure. 

Methodological soundness and statistical procedures 

The national financial accounts are generally consistent with the requirements and 
conceptual framework of the ESA 2010. However the financial account statistics are 
derived statistics that rely on a wide range of data sources, which are not necessarily 
complete or fully sufficient in terms of conceptual requirements. In such cases 
source data are supplemented with estimations or residual calculations in order to 
ensure the completeness of the accounts.  

General issues affecting many or all countries are for instance: 

•

•

•

securities held with non-resident custodians which are not covered by the
national securities holdings statistics (see Table 1 – issue A1);

coverage of the other financial institutions (OFI) sector, and in particular the
timely coverage of newly established special-purpose entities (SPEs), due to a
lack of primary statistics (issue A2);

coverage of financial derivatives for all sectors, due to missing data sources
and/or counterpart sector details (issue A3).

Known methodological issues and coverage gaps are shown in Table 1. The 
information is based on the regular data validation in the quarterly production rounds, 
discussions in the Working Group on Financial Accounts (WG FA) and the 
Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB) 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Executive 
summary 

4 

“level 3” quality reports that provide self-assessment on the national sources and 
methods. 

Vertical consistency – that is, consistency with non-financial sector accounts – is a 
further issue with scope for improvement, requiring the cooperation of financial 
accounts and non-financial accounts compilers. Vertical discrepancies are 
particularly large in relation to GDP in Ireland and Greece, and in certain sectors in 
Germany and Slovenia. 

On the basis of this report, a list of notable issues affecting euro area countries, 
alongside areas for improvement, is provided in Table 1 below. 

Table 1 
Notable issues and scope for improvement (euro area countries) 

Concept  

Ref. 

Recommendation description 

Applicable countries/NCBs 

Methodological description and statistical procedures (section 2) 

Securities holdings  

A.1.1 

A.1.2

Coverage of OFIs 

A.2.1

Integrate third-party holdings from 
Securities Holding Statistics 
(SHS) 

Concerns several countries – 
guidance to be developed by 
WG FA 

Develop data sources for 
securities held with custodians 
outside the euro area (not 
covered by SHS) 

Continue improving coverage of 
OFIs 

See A1.1 

Concerns several countries – 
improving the quality of the 
data related to OFIs is a 
priority for the financial 
accounts 

A.2.2

A.2.3

Continue improving coverage of 
OFIs, in particular SPEs 

Cyprus, Malta 

Estimate backdata for newly 
identified entities/SPEs 

Luxembourg 

Financial derivatives 

A3 

Unlisted shares and other 
equity 

Intra-NFC Loans 

A4 

A5 

Sector classification 

A6 

Enhance data sources and 
procedures to record financial 
derivatives for all sectors 

General issue – guidance to be 
developed by WG FA. 

Enhance data sources and 
procedures to record unlisted 
shares and other equity 

Concerns several countries – 
guidance to be developed by 
WG FA. 

Develop timely and 
comprehensive data sources 
and/or grossing-up procedures for 
intra-NFC loans and improve 
directional reliability of first 
estimates 

Classification of head offices and 
holding companies 

Implementation of the 
recommendations of the Task 
Force on Head Offices, Holding 
Companies and Special-Purpose 
Entities (SPEs) 

Concerns several countries – 
guidance to be developed by 
WG FA. 

Concerns several countries – 
WG FA to take stock of 
practices and develop further 
guidance if needed. 

Timeliness and punctuality (section 3) 

Timeliness 

B1 

No recommendations 

n.a. 

Data and metadata availability (section 4) 

Data completeness 

C1 

No recommendations 

(issues resolved in recent 
transmissions) 

Data accessibility 

C2.1 

C2.2 

Increase quality of pre-2002 
backdata to allow publication 

Ireland 

Increase public availability of data  Cyprus 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Executive 
summary 

5 

Metadata 

C3 

Accuracy and reliability (section 5) 

Revisions 

D1 

Internal consistency (section 6) 

Aggregation consistency 

E1 

Negative stock 

E2 

Provide metadata on revisions 
and single major events through 
the metadata template with the 
transmission of the full national 
data every quarter. 

France 

Investigate low directional stability 
of first estimates for FC liabilities 

Cyprus 

Establish full consistency of sector 
and instrument aggregation 

Ireland, France (for data prior 
to 2014). 

Ensure that values for loans 
(balance sheets) are non-negative 
for all who-to-whom details 

Germany 

Consistency with non-financial sector accounts (section 7.1) 

Vertical discrepancies 

F1 

Vertical discrepancies are large in 
relation to GDP 

Germany (NFCs),  

Ireland (HHs, NFCs, FCs) 

Greece (HHs, NFCs, FCs) 

Slovenia (HHs) 

External consistency with balance of payments (section 7.2) 

B.o.p/i.i.p with rest of the 
world FA data 

G1 

All countries should aim to follow 
the agreed implementation 
timetable of the Statistics 
Committee (STC) and CMFB for 
improving consistency 

All countries 

Comparison with other financial statistics (section 7.3) 

Securities issues statistics 

G2 

No recommendations 

(issues resolved or explained 
in recent transmissions) 

Statistical issues affecting MIP indicators 

The financial accounts are an integrated statistical accounting framework, therefore 
most of the issues mentioned in the report are also relevant for assessing the quality 
of the data for MIP purposes. Furthermore, there are certain issues which affect the 
MIP data directly. In particular, items A5, A6 and G2 are important for private sector 
debt and credit flows, and items A2, A3, A4, D1, G1 and G2 are important for 
financial sector liabilities. 

One area where the compilation of the financial accounts data underlying the MIP 
indicators is particularly affected by limited data sources is the full coverage of 
financial sector liabilities, in particular SPEs and more general ‘Other financial 
institutions’ (OFIs), for which there are generally no timely and comprehensive 
source statistics in place. This issue has been raised for several countries (Germany, 
Cyprus, Malta, the Netherlands and Sweden) but is of importance for most other 
euro area countries as well. Luxembourg has recently improved the timely coverage 
of newly identified SPEs and is encouraged to continue this good work. Overall, 
assessing and, where necessary, improving the quality of data related to OFIs is a 
priority for the work on financial accounts. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Executive 
summary 

6 

For MIP purposes the focus is on data for the last ten complete years. This data 
range was available for all EU countries except the Czech Republic, Denmark and 
Croatia, which are encouraged to increase the length of the relevant time series. 

For more information, on assessing data quality for MIP purposes, please see the 
MIP box at the end of the main body of this report. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Executive 
summary 

7 

1 

Introduction 

This annual report provides a quality review of the quarterly euro area national 
financial accounts.4 It fulfils the formal requirement of the ECB Executive Board to 
inform the Governing Council of the quality of these statistics, as set out in 
Article 7(2) of Guideline ECB/2013/24 (hereafter the “ECB Guideline”).5 Furthermore, 
the report is intended to provide information supporting the Macroeconomic 
Imbalances Procedure (MIP) data quality assurance as laid down in the 
“Memorandum of Understanding between Eurostat and the ECB/DG-S on the quality 
assurance of statistics underlying the MIP”. The report follows the recommendations 
adopted by the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments 
Statistics (CMFB) on the harmonisation of the “level 2” quality report for b.o.p./i.i.p. 
statistics. 

1.1 

Scope of data coverage and structure of the report 

This report analyses a number of aspects by which data quality can be measured. 
This includes: (i) a review of methodological issues where national compilers may 
diverge from statistical standards or may need to enhance statistical procedures; (ii) 
an assessment of compliance by national central banks (NCBs) with their obligations 
to transmit data to the ECB, in terms of timeliness and coverage; (iii) the reliability of 
the statistics; (iv) the internal consistency of the statistics; and (v) the external 
consistency with other statistical domains/datasets, i.e. with non-financial sector 
accounts and b.o.p. and comparisons with related financial statistics, namely 
monetary financial institutions (MFI) balance sheet statistics and securities issues 
statistics. 

The analysis focuses on quarterly financial accounts data transmitted and published 
in 2017. The dataset used throughout the report is the one available as of 
27 October 2017, and the country coverage is the EU 28, although the main body of 
the report only addresses the quality of data for the 19 countries of the euro area. 

Given the specificities of the MIP process, some indicators on the fitness for purpose 
of the data are presented in a box (at the end of this report), covering all EU 
countries. The box draws on data up to 2016 as transmitted in October 2017 and 
revisions up to 2015 and focuses on (i) data availability, (ii) revisions, (iii) consistency 
with non-financial sector accounts and sources and methods relevant for the 
financial accounts data underlying the MIP indicators, i.e. MIP-relevant quality 
dimensions. All indicators presented in the MIP box are in relation to the national 

4   The principles underpinning this report can be found in the Public commitment on European Statistics 
by the ESCB. The ECB Statistics Quality Framework (SQF) and quality assurance procedures, 
published in April 2008, builds upon the ESCB public commitment. 

5   Guideline of the ECB of 25 July 2013 on the statistical reporting requirements of the ECB in the field of 

quarterly financial accounts (recast) (ECB/2013/24), OJ L 52, 7.1.2014, p.34 (as amended). 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Introduction 

8 

GDP or outstanding amounts and are intended to facilitate the analysis in relation to 
the actual MIP scoreboard indicators. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Introduction 

9 

2 

Methodological soundness and 
statistical procedures 

The national financial accounts are generally consistent with the requirements and 
conceptual framework of the ESA 2010. However the financial account statistics are 
derived statistics that rely on a wide range of data sources, which are not necessarily 
complete or fully sufficient in terms of conceptual requirements. In such cases 
source data are supplemented with estimations or residual calculations in order to 
ensure the completeness of the accounts. An overview of the known methodological 
issues and coverage gaps is provided in Table 1 in the executive summary. The 
information is based on the regular data validation in the quarterly production rounds, 
discussions in the Working Group on Financial Accounts (WG FA) and the CMFB 
“level 3” quality reports that provide self-assessment on the national sources and 
methods. 

Issues which concern many or all countries are described below. The WG FA has 
agreed on a tentative work plan to exchange best practices and develop guidance 
for these issues in 2018 and 2019. 

2.1 

Securities holdings 

The coverage of securities holdings of the sectors previously not covered by 
statistical reporting requirements – the non-financial sectors and most other financial 
institutions (OFIs) – has generally improved with the introduction of securities 
holdings statistics collecting data from financial corporations and custodians. The 
national securities holdings statistics must be completed with data on securities 
holdings of residents with custodians resident in other euro area countries and 
custodians outside the euro area. Holdings with custodians in other euro area 
countries are available from the third-party holdings of the euro area securities 
holding statistics (SHS) and are increasingly integrated in the national data of the 
euro area countries. The WG FA agreed to assist compilers regarding the integration 
of the SHS third-party holdings in 2018. 

Data from custodians outside the euro area are not generally available and countries 
have to use b.o.p./i.i.p data and other complementary sources. However, these data 
sources may not be sufficient and/or used consistently across countries. The WG FA 
has agreed to work on these issues in close cooperation with the WG ES in 2019. 

2.2 

Coverage of other financial institutions 

Owing to the heterogeneity of the other financial institutions (OFIs), substantial parts 
of the OFI sector are not covered by euro area wide statistical reporting 
requirements. The WG FA has started to share information on the experience gained 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – 
Methodological soundness and statistical procedures 

10 

when trying to ensure a comprehensive and timely coverage of OFIs, and will 
continue work on this issue in 2018. While most countries have developed, albeit to 
varying degrees, national surveys and other data sources, for euro area countries it 
remains a challenge to ensure that the data for the OFI sector is of a high quality. 
Germany indicated in the level 3 self-assessment report that the recording of the 
sector is partly hampered by limited data availability in the main primary sources, 
particularly for certain instruments, and is complemented with additional balance 
sheet information and selected data from other sources. The Netherlands explained 
in the level 3 self-assessment report that coverage gaps may still affect intra-OFI 
transactions and positions. For countries with a dynamic population of special-
purpose entities (SPEs) and similar entities, such as in Cyprus, Luxembourg, the 
Netherlands and Malta, a full coverage of the OFI sector is of particular relevance. 

Cyprus has revised considerably in 2017 the coverage of SPEs. Malta made some 
improvements in the coverage of its resident SPEs in 2015 with the implementation 
of the current statistical standards (ESA 2010 and BPM6). However, since then there 
have been no further improvements while b.o.p./i.i.p. data on positions vis-à-vis other 
euro area countries show a clear and systematic undercoverage. 

2.3 

Financial derivatives 

The coverage of financial derivatives for sectors not covered by statistical reporting 
requirements, i.e. the private sectors and large parts of the OFI sector, is particularly 
difficult as these are generally not covered by custodian statistics. Financial 
accountants thus generally rely on counterpart sector information, which may not 
provide sufficient information. The WG FA agreed to follow up on this issue in 
cooperation with other statistical areas. 

2.4 

Unlisted shares and other equity 

Data sources for unlisted shares and other equity are incomplete in many countries, 
as corporate balance sheet databases may not fully cover privately held corporations 
or quasi-corporations. Even when corporate balance sheet data are available, the 
valuation of unlisted shares and other equity is difficult in the absence of comparable 
corporations issuing listed shares. This is a potential explanation for the low values 
of unlisted shares and other equity in some countries relative to the distributed 
income of corporations. The WG FA has agreed on a stocktaking exercise to 
evaluate the comparability of the recording and valuation practices in 2018, and may 
develop further guidance. 

2.5 

Intra-NFC loans 

Most countries lack a comprehensive and timely quarterly data source for loans 
between resident non-financial corporations (NFCs). Countries typically combine 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – 
Methodological soundness and statistical procedures 

11 

annual information from corporate balance sheet databases and business registers 
with more timely survey data and quarterly estimates, and the WG FA developed 
guidance for a comprehensive coverage of intra-NFC loans in 2011-12. However, 
owing to the combination of different data sources, intra-NFC loans are often prone 
to sizeable revisions, and low directional reliability of first estimates. The WG FA 
agreed to review the compilation practices in 2018. 

2.6 

Sector classification of head offices, holding companies 
and special-purpose entities 

The ESA 2010 introduced a change to the sector classification of head offices, 
holding companies and special-purpose entities (SPEs), which also affects the 
sector delineation of the financial and non-financial corporations sector. In order to 
review the implementation of the new requirements and clarifications, the WG FA will 
take stock on the statistical treatment and identification of head offices and holding 
companies following the recommendations of the Task Force on Head Offices, 
Holding Companies and Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) and assess whether further 
guidance is needed in 2018. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – 
Methodological soundness and statistical procedures 

12 

3 

Timeliness and punctuality 

The ECB Guideline requires two transmissions: (i) the transmission of a sub-set of 
so-called supplementary financial accounts data at t+85 to allow for the compilation 
of an integrated set of quarterly euro area financial and non-financial accounts fit for 
monetary policy purposes, and (ii) the transmission of the full set of national financial 
accounts data at t+97 (t+100 prior to April 2017). 

All euro area countries transmitted the supplementary data and the full set of 
national data before or by the respective deadlines. 

Table 2 below shows the dates of the financial accounts transmissions and data 
releases. National data were released by the ECB at the time of the second release. 
NCBs may follow their own release policies. 

Table 2 
Transmission and release dates in 2017 for euro area aggregates and country data 

Reference 
quarter 

Supplementary 
financial 
accounts 
transmission 

T+85 

Early release of 
euro area data 
with complete 
data on 
households and 
non-financial 
corporations 

2016Q3 

24 Dec. 2016 

13 Jan. 

2016Q4 

25 March 

12 April 

2017Q1 

24 June 

2017Q2 

23 Sept. 

6 July 

5 Oct. 

Calendar days 
after reference 
quarter 

National 
financial 
accounts 
transmission 

Full release of 
euro area and 
country data 

Calendar days 
after reference 
quarter 

T+97 

8 Jan. 

7 April 

6 July 

5 Oct. 

105 

102 

97 

97 

27 Jan. 

28 April 

28 July 

27 Oct. 

120 

118 

119 

119 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Timeliness 
and punctuality 

13 

4 

Data and metadata availability 

4.1 

Completeness  

The provision of national data and explanatory metadata improved in 2017. The data 
transmissions were complete except for minor issues which did not affect the 
compilation of either the euro area accounts or MIP indicators. While Ireland 
provided the combined sector households and non-profit institutions serving 
households (Households and NPISH), some of the mandatory series for the 
separate sectors were only provided after October 2017. The separate publication of 
the two sectors for the euro area is foreseen for 2018, when sufficient back data will 
become available.6 All countries provided the additional back data which became 
mandatory with the October 2017 transmission starting in 1999Q1, or the first quarter 
of the year in which the respective country acceded to the European Union. 7  

The metadata transmissions governed by the Guideline cover revisions and major 
events. On a voluntary basis they also include information on major balancing 
adjustments and information for revisions and major events below the thresholds 
stipulated by the Guideline. A new metadata template was introduced in 2016, 
together with a request for the enhanced metadata to be also provided by smaller 
euro area countries for significant developments that are nonetheless below the 
threshold set by the Guideline. While all euro area countries generally provided 
metadata and additional explanations when requested, the provision of metadata 
should be improved. Countries are encouraged to make regular use of the metadata 
template when transmitting national financial accounts data to the ECB in order to 
increase the analytical value of the data. Overall, 17 countries have regularly 
delivered metadata on revisions and 13 countries have delivered metadata on major 
events. Given that metadata reporting is subject to a size threshold relative to the 
GDP of the euro area, a firm assessment of compliance with the Guideline is difficult 
regarding major events. No metadata (either on revisions or major events) were 
provided by France for 2016Q3 and 2017Q1. 

4.2 

Accessibility 

Accessibility refers to the conditions by which users can obtain, use and interpret 
data, ultimately reflecting how straightforward it is to access the data and the extent 
to which confidentiality constraints do not allow certain data to be shared. 

6 

The separate provision of the household sector and NPISH is only mandatory from the reference 
quarter 2012Q4 onwards. However countries did provide on a voluntary basis additional backdata for 
this sector split in October 2017. 

7  Article 2.6a of the ECB Guideline specifies an exemption from this backdata requirement: “NCBs are 
not required: (a) to transmit data relative to quarters prior to the first quarter of the year in which the 
relevant Member State acceded to the European Union.” 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Data and 
metadata availability 

14 

                                                                    
The ECB publishes euro area aggregates for transactions, outstanding amounts and 
revaluations for all euro area aggregates. As regards counterpart sector details 
information on the following are published: transactions and outstanding amounts for 
deposits, loans, debt securities, listed shares and investment funds shares. 
Revaluations are published for the holdings of shares and debt securities of the main 
resident sectors.  

The ECB also publishes the national data made available by the NCBs. These 
include all transactions and outstanding amounts, and revaluations for listed shares 
and debt securities as well as for domestic counterpart sector details. 

The publication of national data by the ECB is stipulated in Article 3(2) of the 
Guideline, which requires the publication of all quarterly national financial accounts 
data except to the counterpart sectors ‘residents in other euro area countries’ and 
‘outside the euro area.8 

In line with this legal framework, all data must be sent to the ECB with a flag 
indicating its confidentiality level. Table 3 below summarises the share of time series 
marked as “free for publication” as a ratio of the time series stipulated by the 
Guideline to be published. Two datasets are distinguished. The transmission of the 
first, “core” dataset is mandatory since October 2014 and comprises assets and 
liabilities by institutional sector (Guideline Annex Tables 1 and 2) as well as the who-
to-whom (or “counterpart sector”) tables for deposits and short-term and long-term 
loans (Guideline annex tables 3 to 5). A minimum range of backdata starting with 
reference quarter 2012Q4 has been mandatory since October 2014. Additional 
backdata (1999Q1-2012Q3) became mandatory with the October 2017 transmission. 
The second dataset comprises the counterpart sector detail for securities (Guideline 
annex tables 6 to 9) starting with the first reference quarter 2013Q4; its transmission 
became mandatory in September 2016. 

8  

“The ECB shall publish the euro area aggregates it compiles, as well as the ‘national data’ collected 
under Article 2, as described in paragraphs 3 to 5 thereof, as deemed relevant by the STC except for 
data relating to the cells in rows 12-21 of Tables 3 to 9 of Annex I (referring to the counterpart sectors 
‘residents in other euro area countries’ and ‘euro area RoW’)”. The STC confirmed in 2014 that all 
national financial accounts data required by the Guideline must be published except as stated in the 
Guideline. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Data and 
metadata availability 

15 

Table 3 
Share of observations marked as “free for publication” per dataset for euro area 
countries, in % 

Euro 
area 
country 

Core dataset: assets, liabilities and counterpart sector detail 
for deposits and loans  

Counterpart sector detail 
for securities 

1999Q1 - 2012Q3 

2012Q4 - 2017Q2 

2013Q4 - 2017Q2 

BE 

DE 

EE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

SK 

FI 

100 

100 

100 

78 

100 

100 

100 

100 

99 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

99 

100 

100 

100 

100 

99 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

96 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

The majority of euro area countries make the entire datasets available for the public 
domain. Ireland releases the full counterpart sector detail for securities; however only 
78% of the observations of the additional backdata for the core dataset are fully 
available, as parts of data prior to 2002Q1 (and the separate households and NPISH 
sub-sectors for 2012Q4) are flagged as not for publication. In the case of Cyprus, the 
partial non-availability of both datasets is due to the fact that a relative large number 
of observations are flagged as confidential, which is partially explained by constraints 
of confidentiality in b.o.p./i.i.p. source data. 

4.3 

Clarity 

Clarity refers to the “information environment” of the data, i.e. whether the data 
are accompanied by relevant and pertinent metadata, illustrations (such as 
charts), information on their quality and potential limitations as to their use, and 
background information (sources and methods). 

The availability of background information on sources and methods considerably 
enhances the usability and clarity of the data. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Data and 
metadata availability 

16 

The ECB publishes two press releases per quarter, outlining the latest data and 
relevant economic developments, on the ECB’s website. The dissemination dates for 
all press releases are announced at the beginning of each calendar year in the 
Statistical Calendars of the ECB. 

The concepts and definitions used in the quarterly financial accounts are in line with 
the international statistical standards and in particular the ESA 2010. Background 
information explaining the link between the financial accounts and the non-financial 
accounts and further methodological information are available at the Sector accounts 
section of the ECB’s website.  

The euro area aggregates and the national data can be accessed via the ECB’s 
Statistical Data Warehouse or in the section in the Statistics Bulletin on sector 
accounts. Furthermore, the ECB publishes a large set of euro area and country 
charts for the household sector in the quarterly Household sector report. 

The ECB has a Statistical Information Request facility for external users of statistics 
which helps users access and analyse the data.  

A sub-set of the statistics produced under the ECB Guideline can also be accessed 
via the Euro area statistics website. The aim of this website is to facilitate the 
understanding, use and comparison of euro area and national statistics by 
presenting the statistics in a user-friendly manner. Another feature of the website is 
the possibility of easily viewing who-to-whom data in interactive graphics which can 
be downloaded onto other websites, in emails or on social media. 

This quality report on financial accounts will be published every year starting from 
2018. Previously, quality reports on euro area data were published on a biennial 
basis. 

Table 1.1.1 in Annex 1.1 presents a summary of the national practices regarding data 
and metadata accessibility. All euro area countries allow users to download data in 
different formats. Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, France, Cyprus, 
Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal and Finland have a quarterly press release. The 
majority of euro area countries (all except Greece and Luxembourg) have Statistical 
and/or Economic Bulletins providing a visual representation of the data in the form of 
charts, graphs and tables. Countries should strive to provide a single contact point 
related to queries from the users of the data. This is not yet available in Cyprus and 
Slovakia. 

The CMFB level 3 quality or “self-assessment” reports that provide metadata on 
national financial accounts (including descriptions on the compilation practices, 
sources and methods) are published on the national and/or the CMFB’s website. The 
CMFB's section on Quality reports concerning statistics underlying the MIP indicators 
has links to the reports of all 28 EU countries. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Data and 
metadata availability 

17 

5 

Accuracy and reliability 

This section reviews the stability of the data in terms of revisions to the initially 
compiled data (so-called first assessment or first vintage). In general, revisions are 
necessary to improve the accuracy of the data as an initial assessment may be 
based on incomplete, late or erroneous responses by reporting agents. However, 
large recurrent revisions may indicate the comparatively low quality of the data 
collection and/or compilation process, which needs addressing. On the other hand, 
the fact that there may be minimal or no revisions does not necessarily mean that 
the first assessment has been of high quality; it may simply indicate a national 
preference for not revising the data. 

In this report, revisions for all euro area countries and for the euro area as a whole 
are assessed using indicators based on the comparison between the initial and the 
final assessment. Two basic types of indicators are used (more detailed information 
on revision indicators is available in Annex 1): 

1. Relative size indicators, which measure the absolute differences between the
first and the most recent data vintages. The absolute differences may be
quantified relative to the underlying series when strictly positive or otherwise to
a reference series such as GDP or underlying outstanding amounts. These
indicators are the symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE) and
mean absolute revisions shown as a percentage of GDP. In the case of
transactions, revisions cannot be properly related to the series value itself
because the observations may have different signs or the value of the series
may often be close to zero. Therefore, absolute revisions in transactions are
related to the underlying outstanding amounts or to the individual country’s
GDP.

2. Directional stability and reliability indicators, which measure how frequently
initial assessments are revised in the same direction and whether the direction
of change indicated by the initial assessment has correctly predicted the
direction of change in the most recent data vintage.

All revision indicators are calculated using quarterly data from 2015Q2 to 2017Q1 for 
national and euro area aggregates, as shown in the charts throughout this section. 
The analysis is focused on main financial accounts indicators as commented on in 
the ECB’s euro area accounts press releases related to household financial 
investment, and household and non-financial corporations financing. Financial sector 
liabilities are presented in addition, as this is the basis for the third MIP headline 
indicator. The revision indicators are presented for euro area aggregates and country 
data. The median values of the countries are presented to facilitate a comparison 
across countries. Detailed tables containing SMAPE, upward revisions and 
directional reliability indicators for the euro area aggregates and all EU countries are 
available for information purposes in Annex 1.3. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Accuracy and 
reliability 

18 

5.1 

Household financial investment and loan financing 

Revisions to household financial investment were more pronounced than revisions to 
household loan financing, as can be seen in Chart 1.  

Euro area household financial investment (transactions) recorded revisions that are 
comparable to the median of revisions of euro area countries. The directional 
reliability (Annex table 1.3.4) was 75%. Cyprus and Latvia revised household 
financial investment data more extensively than did other countries; the median of all 
euro area countries for the reference period was 0.1%. Furthermore, the two 
countries show levels of directional reliability for household financial investment 
below 70%. 

Euro area household loan financing (transactions) recorded lower revisions 
compared with the euro area countries’ median and a directional reliability of 88%. 

Luxembourg recorded higher revisions of household loan financing compared with 
other euro area countries; the median of all euro area countries for the reference 
period was 0.1%. The directional reliability is below 70% in the case of Luxembourg 
for household loan financing, while showing a balanced distribution of upwards and 
downwards revisions. 

Chart 1 
Revision to household financial investment and loan financing (transactions) 

Symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE), 2015Q2 – 2017Q1 

Financial investment, total
Loan financing

1.0%

0.8%

0.6%

0.4%

0.2%

0.0%

BE DE

EE

IE GR ES

FR

IT

CY

LV

LT

LU MT NL

AT

PT

SI

SK

FI

EA

5.2 

NFC financing 

Among the components of NFC financing, the net issuance of debt securities was 
revised more than loan financing in a few countries, as can be seen in Chart 2. 

For both loans and debt securities the euro area as a whole exhibited lower revisions 
than the median of euro area countries. The directional reliability was 75% for debt 
securities and 63% for loan financing; the lower reliability for loan financing is mostly 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Accuracy and 
reliability 

19 

due to the revisions of intra-NFC loans. For the net issuance of debt securities, 
revisions were particularly large for Cyprus, Lithuania and Malta, with Cyprus and 
Malta exhibiting values below 70% for directional reliability. 

Belgium, Slovakia and Finland recorded higher average revisions to NFC loan 
financing compared with the other euro area countries. The directional reliability 
indicator was below 70% only in the cases of Slovakia and Finland. 

Chart 2 
Revisions to NFC financing (transactions) 

Symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE), 2015Q2 – 2017Q1 

Issuance of debt securities 
Loan financing

84%

12%

6%

5%

4%

3%

2%

1%

0%

BE DE

EE

IE

GR ES

FR

IT

CY

LV

LT

LU MT NL

AT

PT

SI

SK

FI

EA

5.3 

Financial corporations liabilities 

Regarding revisions to financial corporation (FC) liabilities (stocks), the euro area as 
a whole recorded revisions of 0.9% of the underlying stocks during the observed 
period, which is higher than the 0.5% median of the euro area countries, as some of 
the revisions were not only large but also from a small number of countries only (see 
Chart 3). The highest revisions were recorded for the OFI sector, for which the 
aggregated euro area revisions were 4.4% (while the euro area median was 1.4%). 
The directional reliability for FC liabilities stood at 88%. 

Revisions for FC liabilities were highest for Cyprus and Luxembourg. Directional 
reliability was below 70% only in the case of Cyprus. Both Cyprus and Luxembourg 
consistently revised all first releases upwards, which was explained by ongoing 
improvements in the coverage of SPEs. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Accuracy and 
reliability 

20 

Chart 3 
Revisions to financial corporation liabilities (stocks) 

Symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE), 2015Q2 – 2017Q1 

Financial corporations 
Other financial institutions 

12%

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%

BE DE

EE

IE GR ES

FR

IT

CY

LV

LT

LU MT NL

AT

PT

SI

SK

FI

EA

Detailed tables containing SMAPE, upward revisions, directional reliability indicator 
and mean absolute revisions as a percentage of GDP for all EU countries are 
available in Annex 1.3. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Accuracy and 
reliability 

21 

 
 
6 

Internal consistency 

Internal consistency refers to accounting identities and to hierarchical relationships 
between aggregates and components.9 This includes horizontal consistency, which 
is defined as the equality between the sum of (transactions in) financial assets and 
the sum of (transactions in) liabilities for each financial instrument (i.e. the sum of 
listed shares issued by the resident sectors and the rest of the world equals the sum 
of listed shares purchased by the resident sectors and the rest of the world). 

The euro area accounts are not the simple aggregation of the national data, as they 
need to be combined with other euro area statistics (in particular, euro area 
b.o.p./i.i.p. and MFI balance sheet statistics) to obtain genuine euro area accounts. 
Horizontal consistency is not generally maintained when all these components are 
put together, owing to discrepancies across data sources. Resulting imbalances 
between assets and liabilities for each transaction are then resolved by leaving data 
from the most reliable sources unchanged and amending data from less reliable 
sources where needed. 

The apparent horizontal imbalances (before data sources are reconciled) in the euro 
area financial accounts continued to be significant. There are two underlying reasons 
for this: b.o.p./i.i.p. asymmetries10 as well as differences between national financial 
accounts data and euro area building blocks. The latter occur mostly because 
national financial account compilers may adjust the statistics underlying the euro 
area building blocks or use different data sources. For example, loans granted by 
MFIs to general government as recorded in the financial accounts may differ from 
data in MFI balance sheet statistics because financial accounts compilers use 
government finance statistics, which are assumed to have a higher-quality 
counterpart sector assignment. (Where the sectoral classification is not obvious, 
reporting MFIs may sometimes misclassify entities such as local utilities.) 

Table 4 shows the euro area horizontal imbalances resulting from the combination of 
the various data sources, i.e. before the balancing process, in the 27 October 2017 
release. 

9  

10  

Internal consistency covers the following four elements: (i) aggregation consistency: total economy 
(transmitted sector total) = sum of sectors (sub-sectors); (ii) horizontal consistency: assets (sum of 
relevant sectors) = liabilities (sum of relevant sectors); (iii) balancing item consistency: transmitted net 
lending/net borrowing calculated from the financial accounts (B.9F) and net financial worth (BF.90) = 
assets (sum of relevant instruments) – liabilities (sum of relevant instruments); and (iv) counterpart 
sector consistency: totals (as reported in Tables 1-2) = sum of relevant counterpart sectors (as reported 
in Tables 3-7). 
In order to compile appropriate euro area rest-of-the-world accounts, cross-border transactions and 
positions between euro area countries have to be converted into domestic ones; for example, loans 
between non-financial corporations of two euro area countries are recorded as loans between 
non-financial corporations rather than loans to and from the rest of the world. However, in the national 
accounts of euro area countries, the bilateral transactions and positions do not always mirror each 
other. These “asymmetries” are eliminated in order to obtain a consistent set of euro area accounts. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Internal 
consistency 

22 

                                                                    
Table 4 
Internal consistency of input data for the euro area accounts by financial instruments 

Horizontal imbalances 

RMSE (EUR billions) broken down into bias component █ and variance component █ 
Increase (↑), no change (↔) and decrease (↓) in the indicator compared with its value one year ago. 

Financial instrument 

Q4 2015 to Q2 2017 

Q4 2014 to Q2 2016 

Q4 2013 to Q2 2015 

Gold and SDRs  

Currency and deposits   █ 

Debt securities 

████ 

Loans 

██ 

1.7 ↓ 

10.1 ↓ 

24.2 ↓ 

12.5 ↓ 

██ 

2.7 ↑ 

15.2 ↓ 

███ 

████████ 

47.3 ↑ 

█████ 

██ 

15.1 ↓ 

██████ 

2.3 ↑ 

19.8 ↓ 

27.6 ↓ 

33.1 ↑ 

Shares and other equity  ███████ 

37.6 ↓ 

█████████ 

48.6 ↓ 

████████████ 

65.4 ↑ 

Insurance and pension 

2 ↔ 

Financial derivatives 

██ 

15.9 ↑ 

█ 

2 ↑ 

12.6 ↑ 

0 ↔ 

7 ↓ 

Other accounts 

████████ 

44.1 ↓ 

█████████ 

45.4 ↑ 

█████ 

31.7 ↓ 

The consistency of euro area aggregates before balancing improved for most 
instruments compared with the transmissions in the same quarters one year ago 
(second column). There was an increase in the inconsistency of transactions in 
financial derivatives while inconsistencies in transactions in the other financial 
instruments decreased or remained unchanged. The final, published euro area 
accounts are fully balanced. 

The national financial account datasets as transmitted to the ECB are internally 
consistent, except for minor issues that do not affect main indicators.11 Some internal 
inconsistencies remain for Ireland related to aggregation checks mostly for backdata 
pre-dating 2001Q3; and France related to aggregation checks mostly for backdata 
pre-dating 2014Q2 (see Annex table 1.2). Germany reports two time series with 
negative stock (balance sheets) data in the who-to-whom data for loans. 

11  

Internal discrepancies of more than €10 million have been observed for a few countries but they were 
generally corrected in later transmissions. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Internal 
consistency 

23 

7 

7.1 

External consistency 

Consistency with non-financial sector accounts: vertical 
consistency 

The ECB, in cooperation with Eurostat, produces integrated financial and non-
financial accounts, which are published as the quarterly euro area accounts. Full 
coverage of instruments allows for the compilation of certain balancing items, such 
as net lending/net borrowing (from the non-financial accounts) and net financial 
transactions (net acquisition of financial assets minus net incurrence of liabilities, or 
“net lending/net borrowing as derived from the financial accounts”). It also enhances 
“vertical reconciliation” (equal balances for financial transaction accounts and non-
financial accounts), both within euro area institutional sectors and with regard to the 
rest of the world. Currently, the euro area accounts comprise fully vertically 
integrated data for the FC and general government sectors, while, for the NFC and 
household sectors, and the rest of the world, there are vertical discrepancies 
between the financial and non-financial accounts. 

Vertical imbalances arise because different data sources are used for the 
compilation of the financial and non-financial accounts. The discrepancy for the rest 
of the world is closely related to the “net errors and omissions” stemming from the 
b.o.p. For the euro area accounts, the vertical discrepancies resulting from the
national data and euro area building blocks are reduced (and completely eliminated
in the case of financial corporations and government) by the effect of source
selection criteria (which is sensitive to consistency considerations) and data
adjustments made on the basis of expert judgement and mathematical methods.

Some countries have established similar policies to eliminate the discrepancies, e.g. 
by adjusting financial and/or non-financial items for which the data sources are 
considered incomplete or of poor quality, while others do not make such full 
“reconciliation” adjustments, in order to preserve the information from the respective 
data sources. All countries, however, aim at reducing the sources for discrepancies, 
by improving source data and balancing processes. Furthermore, joint discussions 
by non-financial and financial account compilers at national and European level (WG 
FA and Task Force on Quarterly Sector Accounts) address the topic. 

The charts below present the vertical discrepancies for the resident private sectors. 
For countries with a GDP below 1% of the EU total, the transmission of quarterly 
non-financial sector accounts is not mandatory for the resident sectors other than 
government. The vertical consistency of quarterly data can thus not be assessed for 
Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovakia; Slovenia 
provides the quarterly data on a voluntary basis. 

Charts 4.1.a, 4.2.a and 4.3.a present the absolute vertical discrepancies as of 
October following the respective years, in order to focus on the development over 
time (i.e. the vertical discrepancy for 2016 shows the data as available in October 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

24 

2017, which is broadly comparable with the vertical discrepancy for 2013 as 
available in October 2014). 

Charts 4.1.b, 4.2.b and 4.3.b present the cumulative vertical discrepancies as 
available in October 2017 in order to show whether vertical discrepancies balance 
out or accumulate over time. Accumulating vertical discrepancies indicate a 
persistent bias in the accounts. 

For households, there was a decrease in the differences between the financial and 
non-financial accounts for the euro area (see Chart 4.1.a). The differences were in all 
four years small (only in 2014 was it above 0.5% of GDP). Some countries reconcile 
the household sector for example by adjusting financial and/or non-financial items for 
which the data sources are considered incomplete or of relatively low quality; other 
countries do not make such reconciliation adjustments. In France, the reconciliation 
exercise is conducted once a year, as balance sheet data are revised on an annual 
basis. In many countries, vertical discrepancies tend to largely offset each other over 
time and, as a result, the four-quarter averages are small in most countries. 
Discrepancies relative to country GDP for 2016 were particularly high for Ireland, 
Greece and Slovenia. 

Chart 4.1a 
Vertical discrepancies, households 

Absolute vertical discrepancies relative to GDP 

2013
2014

2015
2016

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%

BE

DE

IE

GR*

ES

FR

IT

NL

AT

PT

SI**

FI

EA

* 2013 net lending/net borrowing was not available in October 2014 for Greece due to derogations.  
** Slovenia provides data on a voluntary basis. 

The sign persistency of the vertical discrepancies is also a relevant quality measure, 
as it helps to identify biases in the accounts (neglecting short-term volatility and 
recording issues between consecutive quarters). Chart 4.1.b below displays the 
cumulative vertical discrepancies for the household sector in relation to GDP. The 
euro area household sector displays a very small negative bias. The countries with 
high absolute discrepancies also exhibit persistent biases in the accounts; a negative 
bias is shown for Ireland and Greece, whereas a positive bias is observed for 
Slovenia. A positive bias indicates a continued excess of net lending as derived from 
the non-financial accounts (and vice versa for a negative bias). 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

25 

 
Chart 4.1b 
Bias in vertical discrepancies, households 

Cumulated vertical discrepancies relative to GDP 

2008-2010
2011-2013
2014-2016

15%

10%

5%

0%

-5%

-10%

-15%

-20%

-25%

-30%

BE

DE

IE

GR

ES

FR

IT

NL

AT

PT

SI*

FI

EA

* Slovenia provides data on a voluntary basis. 

For NFCs, there was a decrease in the differences between the financial and non-
financial accounts for the euro area (see Chart 4.2.a). For some countries, the 
discrepancies are significantly larger, in part because this sector is generally not 
reconciled (see Chart 4.2.a). In some countries (e.g. Germany), this sector has been 
chosen to offset the “net errors and omissions” stemming from the b.o.p. Compared 
with previous years there have been significant improvements in Ireland, which has a 
large NFC sector relative to GDP owing to the presence of large multinational 
corporations. Discrepancies relative to country GDP for 2016 were particularly high 
for Germany, Ireland and Greece. 

Chart 4.2a 
Vertical discrepancies, non-financial corporations 

Absolute vertical discrepancies relative to GDP 

2013
2014

2015
2016

105%

16%

14%

12%

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%

BE

DE

IE

GR*

ES

FR

IT

NL

AT

PT

SI**

FI

EA

* 2013 net lending/net borrowing was not available in October 2014 for Greece due to derogations.
** Slovenia provides data on a voluntary basis. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

26 

The euro area NFC sector displays a small positive bias (see Chart 4.2.b). Germany 
and Ireland display a positive bias in the most recent period, and Greece for all 
periods. 

Chart 4.2b 
Bias in vertical discrepancies, non-financial corporations 

Cumulated vertical discrepancies relative to GDP 

2008-2010
2011-2013
2014-2016

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

-5%

BE

DE

IE

GR

ES

FR

IT

NL

AT

PT

SI*

FI

EA

*Slovenia provides data on a voluntary basis. 

The euro area financial corporations sector is fully reconciled (see Chart 4.3.a). For 
this sector, the data availability is typically better than for the non-financial sectors, 
and many countries usually achieve consistency. Discrepancies relative to country 
GDP for 2016 were particularly high for Ireland and Greece. 

Chart 4.3a 
Vertical discrepancies, financial corporations 

Absolute vertical discrepancies relative to GDP 

2013
2014

2015
2016

16%

14%

12%

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%

BE

DE

IE

GR*

ES

FR

IT

NL

AT

PT

SI**

FI

EA

* 2013 net lending/net borrowing was not available in October 2014 for Greece due to derogations. 
** Slovenia provides data on a voluntary basis. 

The countries with high absolute discrepancies also exhibit persistent biases in the 
accounts, as both Ireland and Greece (and, to a lesser extent, Belgium) display a 
positive bias (see Chart 4.3.b). 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

27 

 
 
Chart 4.3b 
Bias in vertical discrepancies, financial corporations 

Cumulated vertical discrepancies relative to GDP 

2008-2010
2011-2013
2014-2016

15%

10%

5%

0%

-5%

BE

DE

IE

GR

ES

FR

IT

NL

AT

PT

SI*

FI

EA

* Slovenia provides data on a voluntary basis. 

7.2 

Consistency with balance of payments and international 
investment position statistics 

The euro area b.o.p. and i.i.p. constitute one of the so-called building blocks for euro 
area financial accounts and are widely used at national level for the compilation of 
the rest-of-the-world (RoW) account. Alternatively, some countries compile the two 
statistics in one joint process. 

The methodological differences between b.o.p./i.i.p. and the RoW account (national 
accounts) were removed with the introduction of ESA 2010 and BPM6 12. However, 
the analysis shows that in several Member States the inconsistencies between the 
two statistical domains persist, affecting negatively the combined use of these two 
datasets, as well as the confidence in the two statistics that should display the same 
figures given that they are measuring the same phenomena. Acknowledging this, the 
European System of Central Banks (ESCB) worked on the precise identification of 
the differences and on the elaboration of national medium-term work plans to be in 
general observed by September 2019. 13 

7.2.1 

Financial transactions 

Chart 5 shows the differences between b.o.p. and the RoW account for financial 
transactions. In this case, discrepancies may be accounted for by the volatile pattern 
of the underlying series, as well as the reconciliation of the national sectoral 
accounts; both, the “vertical” reconciliation (correction for errors and omissions) and 

12   The harmonised EU revisions policy reinforces this assessment. 
13   Or at the time of the next European benchmark revision. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

28 

 
                                                                    
“horizontal” reconciliation (assets/liabilities equality across sectors) may entail larger 
adjustments in the financial transactions of the RoW account. Nonetheless, 
according to a convention agreed by balance of payment compilers, the relative 
differences should not exceed 0.3% of the average value of underlying stocks for 
b.o.p. and RoW account as agreed by the WG ES.

For the euro area as a whole, the differences were not significant. At country level, 
differences above 0.3% were recorded for several countries (Germany (only for 
liabilities), Ireland (only for assets), Greece (only for assets), France (only for 
liabilities), Cyprus (only for assets), Luxembourg, Slovakia and Finland). Slovakia 
recorded the highest relative discrepancies, exceeding 1% of the underlying stocks 
for assets, but Finland also showed sizeable relative discrepancies for liabilities. 
Absolute differences were significant in Germany, Ireland, France, Luxembourg and 
the Netherlands. 

Chart 5 
Financial account transactions discrepancies between b.o.p and RoW account 

Average absolute and relative difference (as a percentage of respective b.o.p and RoW stocks of financial assets/liabilities) for the 
period 2014Q3-2017Q2 (b.o.p. vs euro area accounts) 

Relative Differences (left-hand scale)
Absolute Differences in EUR bn. (right-hand scale)

1.2%

0.9%

0.6%

0.3%

0.0%

48

36

24

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7.2.2 

Financial positions 

Chart 6 below presents the differences between the i.i.p. and the RoW account for 
financial assets and liabilities (balance sheets/stocks). As expected, the differences 
between the two datasets are larger for stocks. According to a convention agreed by 
balance of payment compilers, relative differences should be below 0.5% of the 
average financial assets/liabilities totals in the i.i.p. and sectoral accounts. 

The euro area as a whole recorded significant discrepancies of 6% both for assets 
and liabilities. These discrepancies arise mostly from differences in the compilation 
and reconciliation processes for euro area i.i.p. and EAA.  At the country level, 
differences above 0.5% were recorded for all countries except Belgium (liabilities), 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

29 

Germany (assets), Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia (assets), Lithuania (liabilities), Malta and 
Austria (liabilities)14. The highest discrepancies were recorded by Spain (assets)15 
(mainly due to the fact that positions of some derivatives are recorded in net terms in 
the FA, as permitted by ESA 2010, and gross in i.i.p.) and the Netherlands (both 
assets and liabilities), with values exceeding 4%. 

A detailed analysis at the instrument level reveals sizeable differences for financial 
derivatives, mainly reflecting a different interpretation of the international statistical 
standards. In particular, the interpretation adopted from the i.i.p. perspective is in line 
with the ECB b.o.p./i.i.p. Guideline (stocks are recorded on a gross basis), whereas 
statistical standards allow, in some cases, for net recording in financial accounts. 
Other reasons behind the differences affecting equity and debt instruments 
(deposits, loans and securities) reflect discrepancies in vintages, data sources and 
estimation methods. 

Chart 6 
Financial account positions discrepancies between i.i.p and RoW account 

Average absolute and relative difference (as a percentage of respective b.o.p and RoW stocks of financial assets/liabilities) for the 
period 2014Q3-2017Q2 (b.o.p vs euro area accounts) 

Relative Differences (left-hand scale)
Absolute Differences in EUR bn. (right-hand scale)

5%

4%

3%

2%

1%

0%

250

10%

1,600

200

8%

150

6%

100

4%

50

2%

0

0%

1,200

800

400

0

s
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BE DE EE IE GR ES FR IT CY LV LT LU MT AT PT SI SK FI

7.3 

Comparison with other financial statistics 

Deviations from other financial statistics may well be justified as financial 
accountants may choose to amend the primary data sources in order to align with 
ESA concepts, or enrich the data with alternative or supplementary data sources. 
However, identifying, comparing and explaining differences may be the starting point 
for a more thorough analysis and, furthermore, explaining major differences of the 
national data to other related statistics provides valuable information for the users of 
euro area accounts and MIP data. 

14  

In the case of Austria the difference was corrected with data transmissions subsequent to the freezing 
of the data for this report. 

15   The difference is mainly due to i.i.p. data following the recommendations of the CMFB Task Force; FA 

will move to gross recording in the 2019 benchmark revision. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

30 

 
 
                                                                    
7.3.1 

Comparison of MFI loans by counterpart sector with MFI balance 
sheet statistics 

Conceptual differences arise for MFI loans owing to the fact that MFI balance sheet 
statistics (BSI) do not record the accrued interest with the loan. While unilateral 
write-downs may be recognised in MFI balance sheet statistics, loans are recorded 
at nominal value in the financial accounts until completely written off. 

Loans granted by MFIs to general government as recorded in the financial accounts 
may differ from data in MFI balance sheet statistics because financial accounts 
compilers use government finance statistics, which are assumed to have a higher-
quality counterpart sector assignment. (Where the sectoral classification is not 
obvious, reporting MFIs may sometimes misclassify entities such as local utilities.) 
Mostly as a consequence of this, the loans granted by MFIs to NFCs may also differ 
in the financial accounts from BSI in a number of countries (see Annex table 1.5). A 
further reason can be the recording on accrued interest, for which in the financial 
accounts preferred recording is with the respective instrument, whereas in BSI it is 
recorded under remaining assets/liabilities). The differences are below 2% of stocks 
in most countries. In Germany and Austria the financial accounts data differ by more 
than 2% owing to the different sector allocation of MFI loans. 

7.3.2 

Comparison of securities issuance with ECB Securities issues 
statistics  

Conceptual differences between securities issuance in the financial accounts and the 
securities issues statistics (SEC) relate to different valuation (nominal in SEC, 
market valuation in the financial accounts) and the recording of transactions received 
against payments other than cash. The latter can have a significant impact, in 
particular in the case of share swaps related to mergers and acquisitions. While 
share swaps are generally recorded in financial accounts as transactions, SEC does 
not record such transactions. 

In some Member States securities issued without an International Securities 
Identification Number (ISIN), which are not generally captured in SEC, are non-
negligible. Financial accounts compilers thus supplement the SEC for non-ISIN 
securities. 

These methodological differences and the supplementation of securities issuance 
data with additional information can explain why the FA values for stocks are mostly 
higher than the SEC values (see Annex Table 1.5). However for Greece, Cyprus and 
the Netherlands, the financial accounts values for debt securities issued by NFCs 
were much lower than the SEC values in the data transmissions of 2017 considered 
in this report. In the case of Greece, the difference was due to securities which are 
not covered by securities holdings statistics; this issue was resolved in the January 
2017 transmission. In the case of Cyprus, the difference is due to a number of 
companies reclassified from the NFC sector to the OFI sector. In the financial 
accounts these reclassifications were also implemented for backdata resulting in a 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

31 

revision for the end-2016 outstanding amounts, whereas SEC data were not revised, 
owing to a different revision policy. In the case of the Netherlands, the difference is 
due to reclassifications from the NFC sector to the OFI sector which were 
implemented in SEC data only recently, in 2017. 

Box 1 
Quality indicators on financial accounts statistics underlying the Macroeconomic 
Imbalance Procedure 

The MIP Scoreboard for the Alert Mechanism Report (AMR) consists of 14 headline indicators (and 
28 auxiliary indicators) measuring internal imbalances, external imbalances and competitiveness, 
as well as employment developments over a period of ten years. The composition of the 
Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP) indicators is subject to review and evolves over time in 
order to reflect the latest developments or arising needs. Most of these indicators are composite, 
i.e. they make use of at least two data sources.

The financial accounts are the main input for the following three headline indicators: 

•

•

•

•

•

private sector debt, consolidated as a percentage of GDP;

private sector credit flow, consolidated as a percentage of GDP;

financial sector liabilities, non-consolidated, 1-year percentage change (11 years of data
necessary);

and two auxiliary indicators:

private sector debt, non-consolidated as a percentage of GDP;

financial sector leverage, non-consolidated, % debt to equity.

Institutional set-up 

Quarterly financial accounts are provided to the ECB on the basis of Guideline ECB/2013/24. Non-
euro area EU Member States provide the data on a voluntary basis. Annual financial accounts are 
provided to Eurostat on the basis of the ESA 2010 transmission programme (Regulation (EU) No 
549/2013).The indicators used for the MIP are provided by Eurostat on the basis of statistics 
compiled in the Member States by national central banks (NCBs) or, in some cases, by national 
statistical institutes (NSIs). Therefore, a Memorandum of Understanding between Eurostat and the 
ECB/Directorate General Statistics (DG-S) on the quality assurance of statistics underlying the MIP 
(hereinafter “the MoU”) was signed at the beginning of November 2016. In the MoU (and the 
exchanged letters), the European Commission and the ECB mutually recognise the quality 
assurance frameworks in place in the European Statistical System (ESS) and the European System 
of Central Banks (ESCB) and establish practical working arrangements for cooperation on the 
quality assurance of statistics underlying the MIP. 

The MoU specifies that Eurostat and the ECB/DG-S regularly conduct assessments of the quality of 
the datasets. In particular the ECB/DG-S runs its quality procedures for the datasets reported by 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

32 

NCBs and provides Eurostat with the quality assured datasets and/or information on the quality of 
the data after the regular data transmission in September/October each year.16 The MoU also 
foresees visits by the ECB/DG-S and Eurostat to NCBs and/or NSIs to help assess the output 
quality of the MIP-relevant data. 

To ensure full transparency with respect to the quality of the MIP-related statistics, a three-level 
quality reporting system has been set up in the last few years with the support of the Committee on 
Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB). The system is made up of national 
self-assessment reports (Level 3). These national reports, in turn, feed into the domain-specific 
quality reports (Level 2) – including this report – which are coordinated between the ECB and 
Eurostat. Finally, a joint Eurostat/ECB summary report assessing the quality of all statistics 
underpinning the MIP (Level 1) is published each year in the CMFB's section on Quality reports 
concerning statistics underlying the MIP indicators. 

Data availability and confidentiality 

All EU Member States provide quarterly financial accounts data, which can be used to compile the 
MIP indicators on a non-consolidated basis (as these do not requiring who-to-whom data). The 
United Kingdom has not provided separate data for the financial sub-sectors insurance corporations 
(ICs) and pension funds (PFs), but does provide the data for the total financial corporation sector. 
As of October 2017 all euro area countries provided backdata dating from 1999Q1 (or the first 
quarter of the year in which the respective country acceded to the European Union). Most non-euro 
area EU countries have provided additional backdata since October 2017 as well. For MIP 
purposes the focus is on data for the last ten complete years. For the calculation of the financial 
sector liabilities, 1-year percentage change, 11 years are necessary. This data range was available 
for all EU countries except the Czech Republic, Denmark and Croatia. Longer-time series (15 
years) are preferable. However, for quarterly financial accounts these are not required from 
countries which joined the European Union in 2004 or later; of these countries, only Hungary 
provides quarterly back data dating from 1999. 

The availability of consolidated private sector debt and private sector credit flow (i.e. debt 
transactions) is more limited, as consolidation – i.e. the exclusion of intra-sector debt – requires 
who-to-whom data. Intra-sector debt consists mainly of loans between non-financial corporations 
(NFCs) resident in the country. Intra-NFC loans (as well as intra-NFC debt securities) are not 
available for the United Kingdom; thus the consolidated private sector debt and credit flow cannot 
be compiled on a quarterly basis.  

Croatia does provide intra-NFC loans, but not intra-NFC debt securities. Intra-NFC debt securities 
are of much lower importance than intra-NFC loans in all EU countries for which both are available. 

All EU Member States make the entire dataset foreseen for publication available to the general 
public, except for minor exceptions not affecting the compilation of the MIP indicator on a quarterly 
basis. Ireland releases the full counterpart sector detail for securities; however parts of data pre-
dating 2002Q1 (and the separate households and non-profit institutions serving households, or 

16   The ECB runs its quality procedure on the quarterly financial accounts received from all EU Member 

States. According to the MoU it is then for Eurostat to assess whether the quarterly data are 
comparable to the annual data it receives from the Member State. For a large majority of Member 
States, the quarterly and annual accounts are the results of one and the same compilation system. The 
derivation of the MIP indicators by Eurostat is based on the annual financial accounts. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

33 

NPISH, sub-sectors for 2012Q4) are flagged not for publication. In the case of Cyprus, the partial 
non-availability of both datasets is due to the fact that a relative large number of observations are 
flagged as confidential, including sectors with typically a significant number of individual statistical 
units, i.e. cases for which confidentiality concerns typically do not apply.  

Sources and methods 

The national financial accounts are generally consistent with the requirements and conceptual 
framework of the ESA 2010. However the financial account statistics are derived statistics that rely 
on a wide range of data sources, which are not necessarily complete or fully sufficient in terms of 
conceptual requirements.  

One area where the compilation of the financial accounts data underlying the MIP indicators is 
affected by limited data sources is the full coverage of financial sector liabilities, in particular 
special-purpose entities (SPEs) and more general Other financial institutions (OFIs), for which there 
are generally no timely and comprehensive source statistics in place. This issue is particularly 
relevant in Germany, Cyprus, Malta, the Netherlands and Sweden. 

A second area is the timely recording of intra-NFC loans affecting the compilation of the auxiliary 
indicator of non-consolidated debt which is particularly relevant for Germany, France, Luxembourg, 
the Netherlands and Denmark. 

Accuracy and reliability 

Revisions to the data underlying the MIP headline indicators are relatively low for most of the 
countries, as can be seen in the MIP Annex Table A. 

For consolidated private sector debt and credit flow, revisions are mostly due to revisions to non-
financial corporation (NFC) loan financing, whereas revisions to household loan financing and NFC 
debt securities issuance are generally low. 

For consolidated private sector debt, revisions are relatively large in Belgium, Latvia, Luxembourg, 
Malta, Slovakia, Finland and the United Kingdom, while the rest of the countries have revisions 
lower than 2% of national GDP. 

For consolidated private sector credit flow, revisions are relatively large in Belgium, Ireland, 
Luxembourg, Malta and Finland, while the rest of the countries have revisions below 1% of national 
GDP.   

For total financial sector liabilities, revisions are in most cases lower than 2%, measured as one 
year percentage change. Larger revisions are observed for Spain, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Slovakia, 
Denmark and the United Kingdom. Financial sector liabilities continued to be revised upwards due 
to the recording of additional SPEs in several countries. The size of these revisions differs between 
countries, which partly reflects different economic realities and in particular the restructuring of 
multinationals. 

For the auxiliary indicators, revisions are mostly higher than for the headline indicators. For non-
consolidated private sector debt the revisions are relatively high in Belgium, Ireland, Latvia, Finland 
and the United Kingdom, while the rest of the countries have revisions lower than 4% of country 
GDP. The difference between the consolidated and non-consolidated private debt indicators comes 
primarily from the intra-NFC loans, which have on average a tendency for larger revisions than 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

34 

other underlying data. Financial sector leverage revisions appear particularly high as the indicator is 
expressed as a ratio of debt to equity. This ratio reacts strongly to revisions to the typically smaller 
equity in the nominator. The largest revisions are recorded for Greece, Slovakia, Denmark and the 
United Kingdom.  

Internal consistency 

Most countries fulfil all validation (accounting) rules, with minor exceptions for Ireland, France, the 
Czech Republic, Denmark, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom (see 
Annex Table 2.2.1). In the case of Ireland and the United Kingdom, observed inconsistencies are 
related to incomplete transmissions. 

Consistency of quarterly and annual financial accounts 

In most countries quarterly and annual financial accounts are fully consistent (see Annex 
table 1.2.2). Vintage differences may occur, as not all countries update the annual data on a 
quarterly basis. Structural differences may signal quality issues in quarterly and/or annual accounts. 
Differences are relatively large in Slovakia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Denmark. In countries 
where the NCB is responsible for the quarterly financial accounts and the NSI is responsible for the 
annual frequency, close cooperation between the institutions usually allows the differences to be 
limited. 

Consistency with non-financial sector accounts 

An important quality aspect for users of financial accounts is the consistency with the non-financial 
accounts by institutional sectors. Conceptually the net lending/net borrowing derived from the 
financial and the non-financial accounts should be identical for all sectors, but in practice this is 
often not the case. High and persistent differences signal quality issues in the financial and/or 
non-financial accounts. 

MIP Chart A 
Vertical discrepancies, households 

Absolute vertical discrepancies relative to GDP 

2014
2015
2016

16%

14%

12%

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%

BE

DE

IE

GR

ES

FR

IT

NL

AT

PT

SI*

FI

CZ

DK

HR*

PL

RO

SE

UK

Euro area

Non-euro area

Notes: * Quarterly non-financial sector accounts for this sector are provided by Slovenia and Croatia on a voluntary basis. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

35 

For the household sector, vertical discrepancies for 2016 were above 2% of GDP in Ireland, 
Greece, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom 
(see MIP Chart A). 

MIP Chart B 
Vertical discrepancies, non-financial corporations 

Absolute vertical discrepancies relative to GDP 

2014
2015
2016

105%

16%

14%

12%

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%

BE

DE

IE

GR

ES

FR

IT

NL

AT

PT

SI*

FI

CZ

DK

HR*

PL

RO

SE

UK

Euro area

Non-euro area

Notes: * Quarterly non-financial sector accounts for this sector are provided by Slovenia and Croatia on a voluntary basis. 

For the NFC sector vertical discrepancies for 2016 were above 2% of GDP in Germany, Ireland, 
Greece, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom (see MIP 
Chart B). 

MIP Chart C 
Vertical discrepancies, financial corporations 

Absolute vertical discrepancies relative to GDP 

2014
2015
2016

16%

14%

12%

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%

BE

DE

IE

GR

ES

FR

IT

NL

AT

PT

SI*

FI

CZ

DK

HR*

PL

RO

SE

UK

Euro area

Non-euro area

Notes: * Quarterly non-financial sector accounts for this sector are provided by Slovenia and Croatia on a voluntary basis.  

For the Financial corporations sector, vertical discrepancies for 2016 were above 2% of GDP in 
Ireland, Greece, the Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom (see MIP 
Chart C). 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

36 

 
 
MIP Annex Table A 
Revisions 

Revisions of financial accounts data underlying MIP indicators for 2015 (October 2017 transmission compared with October 2016 transmission) 

Private sector debt 
consolidated  

Private sector credit flow 
consolidated  

Revision as % of GDP 

Revision as % of GDP 

Total financial sector 
liabilities non-
consolidated 

Revision as % of 2016 
transmission 

Private sector debt non-
consolidated 

Financial sector leverage 
non-consolidated, debt-
to- equity ratio 

Revision as % of GDP 

Revision in pp   

BE 

DE 

EE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

SK 

FI 

BG 

CZ 

DK 

HR 

HU 

PL 

RO 

SE 

UK 

12.32 

0.50 

-0.79 

0.23 

0.17 

1.18 

0.21 

-1.32 

1.87 

2.32 

-0.03 

11.41 

-5.62 

-1.41 

-0.32 

-1.42 

0.18 

2.92 

-2.38 

-1.32 

-0.22 

-0.58 

0.02 

1.17 

0.39 

0.00 

0.57 

5.06 

7.50 

0.16 

-0.31 

2.69 

-0.21 

0.85 

0.44 

0.04 

-0.22 

-0.04 

-0.03 

1.72 

-2.16 

0.76 

0.25 

0.50 

0.08 

0.04 

-2.53 

-0.23 

-0.17 

-0.07 

-0.10 

0.49 

-0.30 

0.00 

0.91 

0.51 

-1.99 

0.25 

0.57 

0.85 

-1.89 

3.08 

1.06 

-1.05 

7.39 

-0.20 

-0.32 

-2.48 

-0.66 

0.84 

0.24 

-1.75 

-0.30 

6.30 

-0.46 

0.20 

-0.16 

2.32 

-0.49 

0.87 

-0.13 

-0.06 

-0.12 

-3.90 

-4.58 

0.33 

-2.78 

6.00 

0.17 

2.15 

1.29 

-1.25 

1.87 

4.26 

1.13 

1.37 

3.74 

2.11 

-0.43 

0.11 

0.18 

2.92 

8.37 

-1.32 

1.21 

-3.54 

0.06 

1.36 

0.44 

0.00 

0.49 

5.06 

-0.18 

0.58 

10.70 

-0.91 

-16.18 

-2.10 

2.08 

-1.28 

-6.49 

-9.60 

0.90 

-1.91 

-0.33 

-6.65 

-1.91 

7.07 

7.06 

-297.83 

3.55 

-3.73 

1.24 

-12.83 

0.76 

-4.67 

-4.93 

-0.76 

1.83 

17.42 

In several EU countries, work to ensure a good alignment between financial and non-financial 
accounts is carried out, and regular meetings are held between the compilers. At European level, 
the issue is addressed in the relevant working fora (WG FA, Eurostat and Task Force on Quarterly 
Sector Accounts). 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – External 
consistency 

37 

 
 
 
 
Annexes 

Annex 1 
Detailed tables 

Annex 1.1 
Accessibility and clarity 

Table 1.1.1 
Accessibility to financial accounts data 

Country 

Website 

Download 

Charts and tables 

Press release 

Hotline 

Euro area 

BE 

DE 

EE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

SK 

FI 

Euro area 

Non-euro area 

BG 

CZ 

DK 

HR 

HU 

PL 

RO 

SE 

UK 

Source: ECB 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

N 

Y 

N 

N 

Y 

N 

Y 

N 

N 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

N 

Y 

N 

N 

Y 

N 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

38 

Annex 1.2 
Internal consistency 

Table 1.2.1 
Indicator on validation rules, ratio of satisfied validation rules in percent 

Period: 2012Q4 to 2017Q2 

Euro area 

BE 

DE 

EE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

SK 

FI 

Non-euro area 

BG 

CZ 

DK 

HR 

HU 

PL 

RO 

SE 

UK 

Country 

Consistency rate 

100 

100 

100 

100 

99 

100 

100 

97 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

99 

95 

96 

99 

100 

99 

98 

86 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

39 

 
Table 1.2.2 
Consistency across frequencies, 2016 

Private sector 
debt consolidated 

Private sector credit 
flow consolidated 

Total financial sector 
liabilities non-
consolidated 

Private sector debt 
non-consolidated 

% difference (QFA-AFA)/QFA 

Financial sector 
leverage non-
consolidated, debt-
to-equity ratio 

difference in pp 
(QFA-AFA) 

Country 

Euro area 

BE 

DE 

EE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

SK 

FI 

Non-euro area 

BG 

CZ 

DK 

HR 

HU 

PL 

RO 

SE 

UK 

-0.00 

-0.14 

0.00 

-0.60 

-0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

-1.07 

-0.00 

1.83 

0.00 

-0.02 

-0.00 

0.00 

-0.00 

-0.00 

-0.00 

-8.45 

0.00 

0.35 

12.12 

-4.22 

0.00 

0.00 

-0.00 

-0.00 

0.00 

0.05 

0.00 

-0.02 

-0.00 

0.52 

-0.00 

0.00 

-0.00 

-0.65 

0.00 

-0.16 

-0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

-0.00 

0.00 

-1.32 

0.00 

-0.75 

-2.67 

6.06 

-0.00 

0.00 

-0.00 

-0.00 

0.00 

0.05 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

-0.16 

0.00 

-0.00 

-0.00 

-0.49 

-0.07 

0.13 

0.00 

0.01 

-0.00 

0.00 

0.82 

-0.00 

-0.00 

0.33 

0.00 

-2.18 

1.62 

7.52 

0.00 

0.00 

-0.00 

-0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

-0.00 

-0.50 

-0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

-1.05 

0.00 

0.05 

0.00 

-0.02 

-0.00 

0.00 

-0.00 

0.00 

-0.00 

0.67 

0.00 

-2.06 

11.58 

0.92 

0.00 

0.00 

-0.00 

-0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

-0.00 

-5.73 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

-4.88 

-0.11 

-6.53 

-0.00 

-0.01 

-0.00 

0.00 

2.37 

0.00 

0.02 

-0.02 

0.00 

20.49 

0.13 

-5.38 

-0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

-0.00 

0.00 

-1.48 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

40 

Annex 1.3 
Revision indicators 

Table 1.3.1 
Symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE*) for period: 2015Q2 to 2017Q1, in percent 

(for non-EA countries for the period 2015Q4 to 2016Q4)) 

Households (including NPISH) 

Non-financial corporations 

Financial corporations 

Loans 

Total assets 

Debt securities 

Loans 

Intra-NFC loans 

Total 

Total  MFI 

IVF 

OFI 

IC 

PF 

Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Transactions 

Stocks 

Euro area 

BE 

DE 

EE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

SK 

FI 

Euro 
area 

0.18 

0.07 

1.68 

0.05 

4.62 

0.85 

1.90 

1.37 

13.58 

5.26 

0.03 

0.01 

0.10 

0.02 

0.00 

0.00 

0.38 

0.20 

2.75 

0.56 

0.14 

0.08 

2.19 

0.16 

1.79 

0.03 

0.97 

0.22 

7.42 

1.36 

0.42 

0.11 

0.29 

0.04 

3.24 

0.38 

10.95 

0.58 

13.87 

2.65 

0.03 

0.01 

1.86 

0.13 

0.53 

0.03 

0.61 

0.11 

NA 

NA 

0.02 

0.03 

0.88 

0.14 

0.07 

0.05 

0.78 

0.13 

1.57 

0.69 

0.04 

0.03 

0.44 

0.14 

0.30 

0.07 

1.59 

0.29 

4.00 

0.70 

0.08 

0.11 

1.21 

0.06 

4.85 

0.02 

0.65 

0.09 

2.97 

0.36 

0.56 

0.06 

0.77 

0.36 

86.86 

84.41 

0.57 

0.27 

0.03 

0.04 

0.14 

0.10 

1.05 

0.85 

0.83 

0.79 

0.89 

0.77 

3.93 

2.57 

0.06 

0.06 

1.85 

0.25 

11.27 

11.53 

1.19 

0.50 

8.32 

2.89 

2.23 

0.32 

10.19 

0.28 

1.55 

0.33 

1.92 

0.78 

8.63 

0.92 

1.10 

0.12 

0.96 

0.34 

13.42 

4.59 

2.44 

0.31 

6.73 

0.71 

0.12 

0.01 

0.44 

0.01 

16.83 

1.78 

2.89 

0.29 

12.02 

1.02 

0.31 

0.02 

0.33 

0.05 

0.19 

0.09 

0.81 

0.23 

3.49 

0.73 

0.28 

0.06 

0.45 

0.09 

0.45 

0.21 

0.84 

0.40 

3.42 

2.15 

0.09 

0.07 

0.29 

0.11 

0.03 

0.00 

0.87 

0.09 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.93 

0.18 

16.67 

0.36 

0.54 

0.91 

0.25 

0.24 

0.06 

0.03 

0.39 

0.10 

4.78 

1.17 

2.88 

0.98 

7.70 

4.83 

0.27 

0.02 

0.43 

0.05 

1.47 

0.15 

1.04 

0.15 

1.01 

0.40 

0.35 

0.19 

0.09 

0.08 

0.24 

0.06 

0.02 

0.04 

0.20 

0.10 

0.13 

0.29 

0.07 

0.13 

0.18 

0.06 

0.01 

0.27 

0.04 

0.06 

1.32 

5.82 

0.24 

4.38 

0.32 

3.93 

0.09 

0.06 

0.00 

0.35 

0.07 

0.74 

1.08 

0.37 

0.38 

4.36 

1.77 

0.00 

0.90 

0.44 

0.57 

4.32 

0.58 

1.39 

1.64 

1.75 

0.78 

9.84 

0.08 

1.06 

0.77 

1.12 

0.01 

1.40 

0.59 

0.28 

0.36 

0.35 

3.35 

1.43 

0.18 

NA 

0.30 

0.35 

0.00 

0.81 

0.20 

1.18 

5.83 

0.51 

0.13 

8.91 

2.11 

7.88 

0.35 

0.13 

0.03 

2.12 

4.20 

0.08 

0.24 

0.07 

5.41 

0.65 

4.46 

0.10 

6.28 

0.10 

0.39 

10.36 

0.91 

13.21 

0.41 

1.03 

7.35 

0.21 

0.66 

NA 

0.51 

0.28 

0.52 

1.35 

1.61 

0.60 

0.23 

0.10 

0.05 

1.20 

0.37 

0.33 

0.67 

0.74 

0.30 

1.36 

1.16 

0.61 

0.10 

0.00 

0.00 

1.31 

0.00 

0.00 

2.79 

2.55 

0.01 

7.75 

7.77 

0.00 

0.10 

0.08 

0.41 

0.78 

0.39 

1.93 

0.88 

0.74 

0.52 

4.37 

0.94 

0.19 

Median 

0.12 

0.06 

0.88 

0.13 

1.79 

0.33 

0.89 

0.29 

3.97 

0.83 

0.10 

0.51 

0.35 

0.30 

1.40 

0.59 

0.61 

Non-euro area 

BG 

CZ 

DK 

HR 

HU 

PL 

RO 

SE 

UK 

0.59 

0.24 

1.66 

0.42 

1.27 

0.81 

0.96 

0.35 

4.86 

0.63 

0.12 

0.01 

0.55 

0.08 

0.43 

0.58 

1.13 

0.55 

5.45 

2.43 

0.25 

0.04 

0.23 

0.20 

1.06 

0.33 

0.85 

0.23 

5.16 

1.37 

0.04 

0.00 

1.38 

0.12 

0.01 

0.00 

0.49 

0.14 

1.53 

0.37 

0.14 

0.07 

1.11 

0.05 

2.05 

0.44 

3.04 

0.52 

12.34 

0.67 

0.07 

0.13 

0.43 

0.15 

1.62 

0.73 

0.70 

0.36 

0.66 

1.00 

0.16 

0.34 

0.62 

1.35 

4.56 

1.02 

1.29 

0.25 

16.15 

2.08 

0.02 

0.01 

1.15 

0.06 

8.34 

0.63 

0.63 

0.35 

0.79 

0.67 

0.26 

0.13 

2.06 

0.09 

2.39 

0.63 

6.73 

0.68 

NA 

NA 

0.20 

0.17 

0.07 

0.02 

2.36 

0.17 

0.08 

0.03 

NA 

0.91 

0.64 

4.78 

2.45 

4.60 

0.14 

0.23 

0.26 

0.05 

1.89 

0.03 

0.00 

0.74 

0.12 

0.21 

3.36 

0.48 

1.62 

0.17 

0.01 

0.00 

0.34 

0.01 

1.38 

2.84 

0.17 

0.07 

6.11 

0.16 

0.25 

0.38 

0.61 

0.06 

1.90 

0.21 

0.21 

0.12 

0.09 

0.00 

2.15 

1.26 

0.10 

0.17 

0.33 

0.96 

2.17 

43.08  25.97 

NA 

0.77 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA – no revisions (in case of the United Kingdom data are not available for the October 2017 transmission). 
*In the case of transactions – underlying stocks in the denominator (mean absolute comparative error – MACE). 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

41 

 
Table 1.3.2 
Mean absolute revision for the period 2015Q2 to 2017Q1, as a percentage of GDP 

(for non-EA countries for the period 2015Q4 to 2016Q4)) 

Euro area 

BE 

DE 

EE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

SK 

FI 

Euro 
area 

BG 

CZ 

DK 

HR 

HU 

PL 

RO 

SE 

UK 

Households (including NPISH) 

Non-financial corporations 

Financial corporations 

Loans 

Total assets 

Debt securities 

Loans 

Intra-NFC loans 

Total 

Total  MFI 

IVF 

OFI 

IC 

PF 

Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Transactions 

Stocks 

0.21 

0.08 

10.18 

0.31 

1.28 

0.24 

5.45 

3.93 

10.54 

4.08 

0.03 

0.01 

0.36 

0.08 

0.00 

0.00 

0.36 

0.19 

0.38 

0.08 

0.11 

0.06 

4.90 

0.36 

0.25 

0.00 

1.50 

0.34 

1.64 

0.30 

0.45 

0.12 

0.77 

0.09 

0.34 

0.04 

47.48 

2.53 

5.10 

0.97 

0.04 

0.01 

5.38 

0.37 

0.00 

0.00 

0.79 

0.14 

0.00 

0.00 

0.03 

0.04 

3.21 

0.50 

0.00 

0.00 

1.55 

0.26 

0.58 

0.25 

0.04 

0.03 

1.96 

0.60 

0.17 

0.04 

3.12 

0.56 

3.08 

0.54 

0.07 

0.09 

5.93 

0.31 

0.89 

0.00 

0.86 

0.12 

0.16 

0.02 

1.37 

0.16 

3.85 

1.78 

0.37 

0.36 

2.52 

1.21 

0.00 

0.00 

0.07 

0.05 

2.17 

1.74 

0.01 

0.01 

1.28 

1.11 

0.62 

0.40 

0.03 

0.03 

3.29 

0.45 

0.09 

0.09 

0.91 

0.38 

0.97 

0.34 

4.01 

1.68 

0.35 

2.81 

1.36 

0.51 

0.23 

0.27 

6.34 

0.42 

0.33 

15.03 

31.89 

0.16 

15.90 

0.46 

0.47 

0.78 

0.32 

0.00 

0.20 

0.08 

0.23 

4.31 

1.05 

0.02 

3.10 

0.19 

0.00 

29.78 

3.61 

7.56 

37.88 

1.15 

1.15 

9.36 

9.26 

0.05 

1.49 

0.01 

0.01 

6.11 

6.30 

0.00 

1.56 

0.33 

0.07 

4.52 

2.86 

3.82 

1.04 

0.37 

0.00 

2.08 

1.73 

0.00 

0.54 

0.18 

0.13 

187.0 

4.66 

0.04 

194.4 

0.96 

2.62 

1.47 

0.43 

0.00 

1.09 

0.29 

0.02 

0.58 

0.14 

0.13 

0.18 

0.36 

0.01 

2.62 

0.38 

30.92 

0.86 

1.42 

0.30 

11.45 

4.65 

11.92 

1.27 

143.21 

3,104 

4.71 

54.22 

3,133 

6.06 

1.08 

1.16 

0.12 

4.62 

1.65 

1.70 

0.58 

6.32 

0.81 

8.55 

0.90 

0.27 

0.03 

2.86 

0.07 

4.85 

0.51 

6.27 

0.62 

2.03 

0.17 

0.32 

0.02 

1.17 

0.17 

0.05 

0.02 

1.25 

0.36 

1.24 

0.26 

0.41 

0.09 

1.86 

0.39 

0.16 

0.07 

1.61 

0.77 

0.92 

0.58 

0.05 

0.04 

0.57 

0.23 

0.00 

0.00 

1.08 

0.11 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

1.44 

0.29 

2.13 

0.05 

0.48 

0.81 

0.02 

0.02 

0.07 

0.04 

1.08 

0.27 

1.49 

0.36 

5.63 

1.91 

4.32 

2.71 

0.31 

0.02 

1.77 

0.21 

0.35 

0.03 

1.89 

0.27 

0.48 

0.19 

Median 

0.07 

0.04 

2.86 

0.36 

0.25 

0.04 

1.55 

0.62 

0.97 

0.30 

Non-euro area 

0.27 

0.11 

4.31 

1.07 

0.09 

0.06 

1.69 

0.62 

0.84 

0.11 

0.07 

0.00 

1.18 

0.16 

0.06 

0.08 

1.12 

0.55 

0.98 

0.44 

0.59 

0.10 

1.37 

1.20 

0.21 

0.06 

1.63 

0.45 

2.35 

0.63 

0.03 

0.00 

3.24 

0.29 

0.00 

0.00 

0.89 

0.25 

0.73 

0.18 

3.61 

3.94 

1.50 

0.55 

0.03 

0.79 

0.31 

0.78 

0.79 

0.69 

0.70 

1.26 

0.08 

20.30 

10.95 

7.76 

7.30 

1.68 

0.00 

14.86 

2.05 

1.16 

19.66 

2.29 

2.22 

1.90 

0.52 

0.05 

1.69 

0.24 

0.04 

5.75 

4.19 

0.09 

2.51 

0.74 

0.12 

0.33 

0.00 

0.00 

0.33 

0.00 

0.00 

8.04 

5.69 

0.00 

1.06 

1.29 

0.00 

0.86 

0.50 

0.41 

0.44 

0.24 

0.06 

11.51 

4.49 

0.97 

14.98 

1.24 

0.08 

5.75 

2.86 

0.05 

1.56 

0.36 

0.06 

3.21 

1.79 

0.09 

0.85 

0.68 

0.03 

0.94 

0.82 

0.01 

0.78 

0.01 

0.00 

12.58 

0.94 

0.42 

10.56 

1.09 

2.47 

0.64 

0.02 

0.00 

0.09 

0.00 

0.63 

0.06 

0.03 

2.73 

0.12 

0.07 

0.02 

4.49 

0.76 

4.11 

0.22 

13.12 

15.80 

0.42 

0.02 

15.50 

0.02 

0.02 

0.05 

0.09 

0.84 

0.28 

0.22 

0.10 

0.57 

0.29 

0.04 

0.05 

0.05 

0.11 

0.86 

1.88 

0.01 

0.00 

1.02 

0.20 

0.52 

0.07 

0.03 

0.01 

6.39 

0.35 

3.11 

0.23 

1.56 

0.87 

0.63 

0.53 

0.44 

0.22 

13.48 

0.60 

0.94 

0.25 

7.55 

0.77 

NA 

NA 

0.52 

0.14 

0.33 

NA 

1.17 

1.32 

0.02 

0.40 

0.05 

0.03 

0.22 

0.13 

0.00 

0.26 

0.07 

0.01 

1.86 

2.06 

1.43 

2.66 

36.31  34.18 

NA 

8.98 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA – no revisions (in case of the United Kingdom data are not available for the October 2017 transmission). 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

42 

Table 1.3.3 
Upward revision ratio for period: 2015Q2 to 2017Q1, in percent 

(for non-EA countries for the period 2015Q4 to 2016Q4)) 

Households (including NPISH) 

Non-financial corporations 

Financial corporations 

Loans 

Total assets 

Debt securities 

Loans 

Intra-NFC loans 

Total 

Total  MFI 

IVF 

OFI 

IC 

PF 

Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Transactions 

Stocks 

Euro area 

BE 

DE 

EE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

SK 

FI 

50 

50 

25 

0 

43 

88 

0 

0 

63 

0 

38 

100 

0 

29 

38 

25 

63 

0 

71 

50 

25 

38 

0 

50 

75 

50 

50 

38 

100 

43 

50 

25 

86 

63 

25 

57 

0 

83 

88 

29 

50 

88 

25 

100 

25 

40 

13 

100 

0 

57 

100 

88 

38 

100 

38 

38 

13 

75 

25 

60 

25 

38 

38 

43 

38 

50 

50 

71 

50 

Euro 
area 

13 

63 

100 

25 

Non-euro area 

BG 

CZ 

DK 

HR 

HU 

PL 

RO 

SE 

UK 

63 

50 

0 

57 

38 

13 

25 

0 

25 

50 

38 

38 

14 

63 

0 

50 

0 

50 

63 

0 

50 

63 

63 

50 

13 

63 

0 

63 

13 

25 

50 

38 

50 

38 

38 

50 

100 

25 

100 

100 

100 

NA 

63 

71 

25 

71 

50 

NA 

33 

57 

38 

63 

38 

100 

100 

100 

100 

63 

100 

100 

100 

38 

50 

38 

43 

38 

50 

38 

25 

38 

50 

50 

38 

100 

100 

NA 

100 

NA 

50 

0 

0 

0 

75 

71 

50 

25 

0 

0 

38 

0 

100 

50 

0 

0 

0 

25 

50 

63 

38 

13 

63 

13 

25 

67 

40 

50 

86 

50 

75 

29 

29 

63 

0 

29 

50 

100 

100 

100 

100 

25 

75 

40 

100 

50 

100 

100 

13 

63 

63 

50 

100 

38 

75 

40 

63 

50 

38 

71 

63 

38 

63 

60 

50 

100 

20 

43 

100 

38 

100 

71 

0 

75 

0 

75 

75 

0 

33 

57 

25 

0 

50 

100 

50 

38 

57 

40 

50 

25 

100 

63 

63 

75 

13 

38 

13 

57 

63 

50 

14 

38 

0 

0 

25 

25 

63 

38 

63 

38 

0 

63 

25 

13 

13 

63 

50 

63 

63 

13 

50 

63 

25 

13 

63 

38 

50 

50 

14 

0 

63 

13 

13 

63 

50 

25 

40 

29 

0 

50 

50 

63 

57 

88 

75 

13 

25 

13 

50 

0 

50 

38 

57 

13 

75 

50 

38 

25 

63 

38 

13 

38 

25 

38 

13 

25 

13 

0 

0 

88 

0 

75 

63 

100 

NA 

100 

100 

100 

67 

57 

100 

0 

100 

NA 

100 

100 

0 

38 

50 

0 

67 

100 

100 

100 

100 

60 

75 

100 

0 

38 

0 

0 

57 

50 

88 

25 

38 

38 

80 

100 

50 

75 

50 

38 

100 

75 

63 

100 

100 

100 

25 

0 

100 

0 

0 

50 

100 

0 

0 

88 

75 

25 

0 

100 

63 

50 

50 

38 

50 

NA 

67 

88 

88 

50 

50 

29 

75 

63 

25 

63 

13 

20 

63 

25 

50 

43 

63 

0 

63 

100 

50 

33 

57 

38 

0 

88 

13 

100 

80 

38 

NA 

0 

13 

50 

NA 

NA 

100 

100 

100 

25 

88 

13 

63 

0 

100 

88 

13 

13 

63 

0 

38 

25 

38 

13 

13 

0 

0 

63 

0 

14 

50 

63 

13 

25 

38 

13 

63 

0 

13 

0 

33 

25 

0 

43 

0 

63 

25 

38 

38 

38 

63 

25 

38 

0 

50 

17 

25 

40 

25 

38 

38 

0 

20 

0 

50 

0 

50 

25 

50 

38 

NA 

NA 

NA – no revisions (in case of the United Kingdom data are not available for the October 2016 transmission). 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

43 

Table 1.3.4 
Directional reliability indicator for period: 2015Q2 to 2017Q1, in percent 

(for non-EA countries for the period 2015Q4 to 2016Q4)) 

Households (including NPISH) 

Non-financial corporations 

Financial corporations 

Loans 

Total assets 

Debt securities 

Loans 

Intra-NFC loans 

Total 

Total  MFI 

IVF 

OFI 

IC 

PF 

Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Stocks 

Trans-
actions  Transactions 

Stocks 

Euro area 

BE 

DE 

EE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

SK 

FI 

Euro 
area 

75 

88 

88 

75 

88 

88 

88 

88 

63 

75 

88 

88 

75 

75 

75 

75 

88 

88 

88 

75 

88 

50 

75 

88 

88 

63 

75 

63 

63 

88 

50 

63 

75 

88 

63 

88 

88 

75 

75 

88 

88 

75 

75 

88 

88 

63 

38 

75 

63 

63 

75 

63 

63 

50 

63 

88 

75 

88 

88 

50 

75 

75 

88 

75 

88 

63 

63 

75 

50 

63 

75 

75 

88 

75 

88 

88 

63 

88 

50 

63 

88 

88 

88 

63 

38 

75 

88 

88 

38 

63 

88 

63 

88 

25 

75 

88 

88 

88 

75 

88 

88 

88 

88 

50 

88 

88 

75 

63 

63 

88 

50 

88 

88 

88 

50 

63 

38 

63 

75 

50 

50 

75 

63 

50 

75 

63 

88 

50 

50 

75 

75 

63 

38 

75 

75 

75 

88 

50 

63 

88 

88 

63 

50 

63 

38 

63 

88 

75 

25 

88 

63 

25 

25 

50 

25 

38 

88 

75 

75 

75 

88 

50 

50 

50 

63 

50 

63 

50 

88 

88 

63 

0 

75 

38 

63 

88 

75 

63 

88 

88 

63 

75 

50 

75 

75 

50 

63 

88 

88 

25 

75 

88 

88 

75 

63 

75 

75 

63 

50 

63 

Non-euro area 

BG 

CZ 

DK 

HR 

HU 

PL 

RO 

SE 

UK 

75 

50 

100 

75 

100 

100 

100 

100 

75 

75 

75 

75 

50 

75 

75 

50 

100 

100 

75 

75 

25 

100 

100 

100 

75 

75 

100 

75 

75 

100 

100 

100 

50 

50 

75 

75 

100 

50 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

75 

50 

75 

75 

100 

50 

50 

50 

75 

75 

100 

50 

50 

75 

75 

75 

75 

50 

75 

75 

25 

75 

100 

100 

50 

50 

75 

25 

25 

75 

25 

25 

25 

75 

75 

50 

100 

75 

50 

100 

50 

100 

75 

50 

NA 

NA 

88 

88 

88 

88 

75 

75 

38 

88 

75 

88 

63 

75 

88 

75 

63 

88 

88 

38 

88 

75 

50 

100 

75 

100 

50 

75 

75 

100 

NA 

63 

88 

75 

75 

75 

63 

38 

63 

63 

75 

88 

88 

63 

88 

75 

75 

88 

88 

88 

63 

75 

88 

88 

75 

88 

50 

75 

63 

63 

88 

88 

88 

88 

88 

75 

88 

88 

88 

88 

88 

88 

88 

75 

88 

88 

88 

88 

88 

63 

88 

63 

88 

88 

88 

88 

88 

75 

38 

88 

88 

63 

75 

50 

75 

88 

75 

75 

75 

88 

88 

88 

38 

50 

88 

75 

63 

75 

88 

75 

75 

88 

75 

63 

75 

50 

63 

75 

63 

75 

50 

75 

50 

88 

75 

75 

63 

88 

88 

63 

88 

63 

38 

63 

38 

88 

88 

75 

88 

75 

63 

75 

88 

88 

63 

88 

75 

88 

88 

75 

75 

100 

100 

100 

100 

50 

100 

100 

75 

100 

100 

100 

100 

75 

100 

100 

75 

75 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

75 

75 

75 

75 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

25 

75 

75 

75 

75 

25 

75 

75 

100 

75 

100 

75 

NA 

100 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

44 

 
 
Annex 1.4 
Vertical discrepancies, four quarter cumulative vertical 
discrepancies 

Table 1.4.1 

EUR millions* 

As a percentage of GDP 

2016Q3 

2016Q4 

2017Q1 

2017Q2 

2016Q3 

2016Q4 

2017Q1 

2017Q2 

Households Euro Area 

BE 

DE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

FI 

EA 

-5,096 

-5,413 

-2,337 

5,223 

0 

0 

0 

0 

-10,570 

-9,584 

-12,429 

-12,738 

-13,113 

-15,001 

-14,327 

-13,065 

-7,239 

-7,400 

-24,143 

-13,489 

3,657 

-1,376 

15,238 

36,854 

-10,357 

-1,662 

4,566 

8,163 

3,811 

-2,278 

-4,046 

-8,452 

-3,974 

0 

615 

0 

1,154 

1,112 

-329 

0 

907 

-709 

0 

1,565 

-497 

-3,657 

-4,610 

-5,717 

-21,288 

-3,954 

13,591 

35,377 

Households Non-Euro Area 

CZ 

DK 

HR 

PL 

RO 

SE 

UK 

-88,743 

-96,218 

-113,356 

-128,086 

0 

0 

0 

0 

18,680 

11,865 

8,840 

4,304 

-103,547 

-112,413 

-124,768 

-89,308 

72,894 

28,796 

15,647 

-2,066 

115,377 

157,970 

142,840 

161,253 

-64,236 

-59,995 

-59,621 

-61,075 

Non-financial corporations Euro Area 

BE 

DE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

FI 

EA 

-1,902 

3,695 

606 

-3,341 

103,235 

116,349 

22,532 

-8,389 

-2,612 

17,335 

18,052 

29,610 

16,397 

11,469 

10,047 

10,392 

7,239 

7,400 

24,143 

13,489 

13,622 

1,605 

-13,385 

-63,841 

-19,627 

-8,306 

-9,446 

19,020 

1,280 

3,499 

4,759 

8,261 

-4,045 

-2,719 

605 

-1,167 

-1,356 

-1,110 

495 

324 

236 

-908 

-905 

-148 

2,018 

2,620 

5,087 

9,443 

21,509 

4,316 

-13,648 

-35,467 

-1% 

0% 

-4% 

-8% 

-1% 

0% 

-1% 

1% 

-1% 

0% 

3% 

0% 

0% 

-2% 

0% 

5% 

-6% 

10% 

3% 

-3% 

0% 

3% 

-1% 

9% 

1% 

1% 

-1% 

0% 

-1% 

-1% 

1% 

1% 

0% 

-1% 

0% 

-3% 

-9% 

-1% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

3% 

-2% 

0% 

-2% 

0% 

3% 

-6% 

4% 

4% 

-3% 

1% 

4% 

6% 

7% 

1% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

-1% 

-1% 

1% 

1% 

0% 

-1% 

0% 

-5% 

-8% 

-2% 

1% 

0% 

-1% 

0% 

0% 

2% 

-2% 

0% 

-2% 

0% 

3% 

-7% 

2% 

3% 

-3% 

0% 

1% 

7% 

6% 

2% 

-1% 

-1% 

1% 

0% 

-1% 

1% 

2% 

0% 

1% 

0% 

-5% 

-8% 

-1% 

2% 

0% 

-1% 

0% 

0% 

4% 

-3% 

0% 

-3% 

0% 

1% 

-5% 

0% 

4% 

-3% 

-1% 

0% 

11% 

6% 

1% 

-3% 

1% 

1% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

4% 

0% 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

45 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUR millions* 

As a percentage of GDP 

2016Q3 

2016Q4 

2017Q1 

2017Q2 

2016Q3 

2016Q4 

2017Q1 

2017Q2 

Non-financial corporations Non-Euro Area 

CZ 

DK 

HR 

PL 

RO 

SE 

UK 

-151,604 

-437,156 

-132,878 

-97,625 

2 

-2 

-2 

0 

-13,691 

-1,966 

14,159 

20,329 

155,131 

152,036 

144,173 

98,685 

-3% 

0% 

-4% 

8% 

-101,271 

-53,583 

-43,419 

-19,900 

-13% 

-58,813 

-227,643 

-40,611 

-126,329 

65,009 

64,746 

58,960 

38,766 

-9% 

0% 

-1% 

8% 

-7% 

-5% 

3% 

1% 

0% 

-6% 

4% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

-1% 

-1% 

0% 

4% 

0% 

1% 

1% 

5% 

5% 

1% 

-3% 

-2% 

0% 

4% 

8% 

-6% 

-1% 

3% 

1% 

0% 

0% 

6% 

5% 

-3% 

-3% 

2% 

0% 

0% 

-10% 

-11% 

3% 

0% 

1% 

-1% 

0% 

1% 

0% 

-1% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

-1% 

1% 

4% 

1% 

2% 

3% 

0% 

-1% 

-2% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

-1% 

0% 

0% 

1% 

0% 

-2% 

0% 

3% 

1% 

1% 

-1% 

3% 

2% 

0% 

4% 

5% 

0% 

1% 

1% 

0% 

1% 

0% 

-1% 

-2% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

1% 

5% 

3% 

1% 

Financial corporations Euro Area 

BE 

DE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

FI 

EA 

7,227 

5,024 

3,823 

-882 

4 

1 

3 

0 

11,817 

-15,639 

-27,230 

-30,991 

8,937 

6,584 

4,395 

5,371 

0 

0 

0 

0 

17,658 

311 

15,579 

-16,225 

12,478 

-5,079 

-16,224 

-35,397 

0 

0 

0 

5,224 

-681 

1,769 

84 

-299 

36 

-459 

-3,287 

-1,155 

0 

0 

-95 

-443 

-200 

0 

0 

-385 

-65 

-410 

877 

0 

Financial corporations Non-Euro Area 

CZ 

DK 

HR 

PL 

RO 

SE 

UK 

-20,684 

186,089 

-16,869 

63,865 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1,214 

2,168 

-3,470 

-7,665 

10,645 

10,931 

22,668 

8,594 

36,598 

38,707 

31,482 

22,473 

151,110 

221,611 

46,961 

23,917 

24,472 

27,962 

31,613 

26,539 

*For non-euro area countries the results are shown in the national currency. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

46 

 
 
 
Annex 1.5 
Comparison with MFI balance sheet data (BSI) and securities 
issues statistics (SEC), in percent 

Table 1.5.1 

External Comparison 

MFI loans to NFCs and HHs: FA - 
BSI statistics 2016 

NFC debt securities: FA - SEC statistics 2016 

Stocks 

Transactions* 

Stocks 

Transactions* 

% difference (QFA-BSI)/QFA 

% difference 
(QFA-SEC)/QFA 

difference as % 
of GDP 

% difference 
(QFA-SEC)/QFA 

difference as % 
of GDP 

Euro area 

BE 

DE 

EE 

IE 

GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PT 

SI 

SK 

FI 

Non-Euro area 

CZ 

DK 

HR 

HU 

PL 

RO 

SE 

UK 

1.10 

-2.28 

-1.12 

-0.05 

0.71 

0.01 

0.35 

0.01 

0.62 

-0.41 

0.00 

0.00 

0.52 

-1.43 

4.68 

0.21 

0.22 

0.49 

0.45 

-0.24 

1.06 

0.64 

0.52 

0.64 

1.43 

0.10 

NA 

-0.22 

-0.66 

-0.54 

1.52 

-0.03 

0.34 

-0.04 

0.02 

0.19 

-0.23 

-0.11 

-0.08 

-2.22 

0.23 

-0.19 

0.15 

0.01 

0.28 

1.54 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

15.41 

14.09 

2.05 

20.20 

2.42 

0.82 

0.14 

1.53 

0.15 

-0.03 

0.06 

38.48 

-2045.56 

-1.33 

-185.29 

1.66 

7.85 

14.86 

0.05 

2.26 

1.28 

-0.07 

-0.19 

-0.13 

-36500.00 

-2.01 

-111310.00 

2.81 

93.24 

-3.74 

11.39 

-44.32 

10.30 

-0.13 

3.05 

42.02 

10.35 

-5.63 

9.63 

-18.77 

13.03 

24.52 

27.04 

3.55 

-0.97 

0.03 

0.3 

-1.54 

0.79 

-6.02 

1.32 

-0.02 

0.07 

3.31 

1.59 

-0.39 

0.94 

-0.90 

0.28 

1.83 

0.02 

0.76 

-0.20 

3.44 

15.10 

13.53 

14.72 

-5.02 

0.37 

0.05 

-0.64 

3.77 

7.98 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

0.02 

0.00 

0.00 

2.91 

-0.12 

0.00 

-0.06 

-0.01 

-6.14 

0.03 

0.06 

5.59 

1.03 

-0.68 

0.05 

0.01 

-0.02 

0.30 

1.23 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

*In the case of transactions – underlying stocks in the denominator, comparable transaction data are not available for non-euro area 
countries. Percentage differences can be inflated when values are very small. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

47 

 
Annex 2 
Methodological documentation of revision indicators 

Descriptive measures 

Upward revision ratio 

The upward revision ratio is the ratio between the number of upward revisions and 
the number of observations considered (N) – total number of revisions over time and 
across vintages, excluding zero values.  

Upwards revision ratio =

# upward revisions
N

 (%)

The prescriptive target for this indicator would is between 30% and 70%. Since both 
positive and negative revisions should occur with roughly the same frequency, 
around half the time the revisions should be positive.  

Directional reliability indicator 

To assess whether the information on the sign of the changes over time as contained 
in the earlier assessments has been systematically altered by revisions, a 2 by 2 
contingency table can be set up. In this table, the columns consist of positive and 
negative first difference in the initial estimates:  

The rows consist of positive and negative changes in the latest assessment: 

𝐼𝐼
∆𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡

𝐼𝐼
= 𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡

𝐼𝐼
− 𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡−1

Table 2.1 
Contingency table for directional realiability 

𝐿𝐿
∆𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡

𝐿𝐿
= 𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡

𝐿𝐿
− 𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡−1

> 𝟎𝟎

𝑳𝑳
∆𝒙𝒙𝒕𝒕
𝑳𝑳
∆𝒙𝒙𝒕𝒕
Subtotal 

≤ 𝟎𝟎

𝑰𝑰
∆𝒙𝒙𝒕𝒕
n11 

> 𝟎𝟎

n21 

𝑰𝑰
∆𝒙𝒙𝒕𝒕
n12 

≤ 𝟎𝟎

n22 

n1 1+ n21 

n12 + n22 

Subtotal 

n11 + n12 

n21 + n22 

N 

Sources & Notes 

The directional reliability indicator (Q) is defined as: 

Q =  

n11 + n22
N

 (%)

This indicator (Q) expresses the percentage of cases in which earlier and later 
assessments move in the same direction. It is equal to 1 (100%) if the changes 
following the first and the final assessment always have the same sign, while it is 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

48 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
equal to 0 if that is never the case. High values of this indicator are optimal in terms 
of confirming the reliability of the data.  

Size measures 

Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) 

For strictly positive data, the relative measure of revisions equals the percentage 
change over the initial assessment: 

𝐿𝐿
𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡

% change =   �

𝐼𝐼
− 𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡
𝐼𝐼
𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡

�

If the average over time is then computed, this is called the mean percentage error 
(MPE): 

MPE =   �

𝐼𝐼
𝐿𝐿
�������������
− 𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡
𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡
𝐼𝐼
�
𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡

As revisions can be both positive and negative, it is usually more appropriate to take 
the absolute value in order to avoid revisions of opposite signs cancelling each other 
out in the resulting indicator. So if the average is calculated with the absolute values, 
the result is the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE).  

MAPEaverage of ratios =

T

1
T

� �
t=1

L
xt

I
− xt
I
xt

�

 (%)

There are two alternative definitions of this indicator: an average of ratios and the 
ratio of averages.  

MAPEratio of averages =

𝑇𝑇
𝐼𝐼
𝐿𝐿
− 𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡
∑ |𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡
𝑡𝑡=1
𝑇𝑇
𝐼𝐼
𝑡𝑡=1
∑ |𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡
|
/𝑇𝑇

|/𝑇𝑇

 (%)

The second has an advantage over the first one – if a single data point of the 
denominator is close to zero, the indicator calculated as an average of ratios will be 
artificially magnified, which is not necessarily the case with the second one. MAPE 
calculated as the ratio of averages is preferred over the first version.  

To overcome the fact that transactions can be both positive and negative and 
therefore not useable in the denominator, MAPE for transactions is calculated as a 
percentage of the underlying stocks. If calculated in that way, the resulting indicator 
is usually called a mean absolute comparative error (MACE), as revisions in series 
containing observations with different signs or close to zero cannot be properly 
related to the series value itself but to the alternative measure as outstanding 
amounts or GDP. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

49 

 
 
 
 
Symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE) 

MAPE is an asymmetric indicator; if revisions are on average positive, MAPE would 
be lower than if those revisions are on average negative. In the case of the 
denominator being identified in terms of the latest assessments, the results would be 
the opposite. SMAPE fixes the issues of asymmetry and it is bounded between 0 
and 1 (100%), while MAPE is not bounded on the upper side. In other words, 
SMAPE gives relevance to the initial observation while MAPE does not.  

SMAPE =  

𝑇𝑇
𝐿𝐿
∑ |𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡
𝑡𝑡=1
𝑇𝑇
𝐿𝐿
𝑡𝑡=1
∑ (|𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡

𝐼𝐼
− 𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡
|/ 𝑇𝑇
𝐼𝐼
| + |𝑥𝑥𝑡𝑡
|)/𝑇𝑇

 (%)

As with MAPE, this indicator for transactions is again calculated as a percentage of 
underlying stocks which is again usually referred to as a MACE. 

Additional notes: 

Whenever the GDP is used, it is the latest value available (in this case 2016). 

For revisions, all figures are calculated as the difference between the data from the 
October 2017 and the October 2016 transmissions. 

For the rest of the tables and charts, unless specified otherwise, the figures are 
calculated using the data from the October 2017 transmission. 

Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts – Quarterly Report 2017 – Annexes 

50 

 
 
© European Central Bank, 2018 

Postal address  60640 Frankfurt am Main, Germany 
Telephone 
Website 

+49 69 1344 0 
www.ecb.europa.eu 

All rights reserved. Reproduction for educational and non-commercial purposes is permitted provided that the source is acknowledged.  

For terminology and abbreviations, please refer to the ECB glossary 

PDF 
HTML 

ISBN 978-92-899-3396-4, 
ISBN 978-92-899-3397-1 

ISSN 2363-0191 (pdf), 
ISSN 2363-0191 (html), 

doi:10.2866/30798 
doi:10.2866/71616 

QB-AV-18-001-EN-N 
QB-AV-18-001-EN-Q