Revisiting the monetary presentation of the euro area balance of payments.
Date: 2020-12-23
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: balance of payments, balance sheet, cross-frontier data flow, economic aggregate, euro area, financial institution, monetary policy

Occasional Paper Series 

Carmen Picón Aguilar,   
Rodrigo Oliveira Soares,   
Ramón Adalid 

Revisiting the monetary   
presentation of the euro area 
balance of payments 

No 238 / February 2020 

Disclaimer: This paper should not be reported as representing the views of the European Central Bank (ECB). 
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the ECB. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Contents 

Abstract 

Executive summary 

1 

2 

3 

4 

Introduction: why revisit the 2008 Occasional Paper? 

Box 1 Methodological enhancements since 2008 

Framework and approach 

2.1  MFI balance sheet: M3 and its counterparts 

2.2 

2.3 

The balance of payments 

Intersection of the MFI balance sheet with the balance of 
payments 

Integrating data from the balance of payments with those from the 
MFI balance sheet 

3.1  Consistency between datasets 

3.2  Defining enhanced net external assets 

External transactions and monetary dynamics since 2008 

4.1  External monetary flows: a key item in the analysis of broad 

money growth 

4.2  Recent developments in external monetary flows 

5 

Conclusion 

Annex 1 

Annex 2 

Annex 3 

References 

2 

3 

4 

5 

7 

7 

10 

13 

18 

18 

21 

23 

23 

26 

31 

33 

34 

36 

43 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

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Abstract 

We explain how the external counterpart of the euro area M3 can be analysed by 
using the euro area balance of payments (b.o.p.). This is possible because the net 
external assets of the monetary financial institutions (MFIs) are present in two 
statistical frameworks that follow similar conventions: the balance sheet items (BSI) of 
MFIs and the balance of payments statistics. The first step to including external flows 
in the monetary analysis is to understand the nature of the flows between resident 
money holders and the rest of the world. This is possible thanks to the monetary 
presentation of the b.o.p, which provides information on the nature of external 
transactions and therefore guidance on the persistence of the monetary signal 
stemming from external flows. 

Over the past five years, the increase in the euro area’s external competitiveness has 
given rise to a sustained current account surplus that has consistently supported 
monetary inflows into the euro area. At the same time, portfolio transactions, which 
closely reflect financial and monetary policy conditions, have fluctuated significantly, 
increasing monetary inflows in the period from mid-2012 to mid-2014 and turning them 
into net outflows during the asset purchase programme (APP) period. 

Keywords: balance sheet items, balance of payments, monetary financial institutions, 
net external assets, cross-border flows, monetary aggregates 

JEL codes: E51, E52, F45, F41, F43, F32, F34 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

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Executive summary 

The primary objective of the European Central Bank (ECB) is to maintain price stability 
in the euro area over the medium term. To achieve this objective, the ECB uses 
thorough economic and monetary analyses to monitor risks to price stability. The 
monetary analysis essentially entails assessing developments in the broad monetary 
aggregate – M3 – and its subcomponents, as well as studying M3 counterparts in the 
consolidated balance sheet of the banking sector.1  The analysis of the M3 
counterparts provides a very important insight into monetary developments, as it helps 
to identify the sources of money creation. 

In broad terms, the aggregate amount of money in the economy, meaning that held by 
resident money holders 2, can change via three main channels: (i) the provision of 
credit by the monetary financial institutions (MFIs); (ii) the distribution of MFI liabilities 
between instruments inside or outside M3; and (iii) the interaction of money holders 
with the external sector. An example of point (iii) occurs when a household imports 
foreign goods or when it acquires a financial asset previously held by a foreign 
investor. In both cases, the amount of money held by resident money holders 
decreases, as the household will typically pay for these acquisitions by transferring 
part of its deposits to a non-resident entity.3 

In this context, the monetary presentation of the balance of payments (b.o.p.) offers a 
link at the aggregate level between cross-border payments (or, more specifically, 
between the change in banks’ net external position created by those payments) and 
the transactions that gave rise to them. As such, it represents an invaluable tool for 
analysing the source of the changes in the aggregate amount of broad money 
resulting from the interaction of the non-MFI sector with the external sector. 

Technically, reflecting the unique role of MFIs as intermediators of cross-border 
payments, the monetary presentation of the b.o.p. results from dividing the b.o.p. 
transactions into two large resident sectors: (i) MFIs (or the money-issuing sector, 
which not only includes commercial banks but also the central bank); and (ii) non-MFIs 
(including the money-holding and money-neutral sectors), one being the mirror image 
of the other.4  The b.o.p. of the MFI sector is conceptually the intersection between BSI 
and b.o.p. statistics, and therefore it establishes the link between external monetary 
flows and the b.o.p. of the non-MFI sector. For this reason, the use of the monetary 
presentation of the b.o.p. for policy analyses relies on having the appropriate sectoral 
b.o.p. decomposition on a monthly basis, i.e. the frequency at which monetary data 
are available and analysed. 

1    See M3 for further details on the definition. 
2    The “money-holding” sector comprises all non-MFI euro area residents, excluding central governments. 
This sector principally includes households, non-financial corporations, insurance corporations and 
pension funds and other non-MFIs located in the euro area, as well as state and local government 
authorities and social security funds in the euro area. Central governments are considered to be a 
“money-neutral” sector, with one exception: central government deposit liabilities with a monetary 
character (post office accounts, national savings accounts and treasury accounts) are included in the 
definition of the monetary aggregates of the Eurosystem. 

3    This will not be the case when these transactions are “settled” with bank accounts in foreign banks. 
4    See Annex 1 for the standard monetary presentation of the b.o.p. 

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1 

Introduction: why revisit the 2008 
Occasional Paper? 

Important methodological enhancements have been made in recent years, in 
particular those relating to the updates of the relevant international standards, in other 
words, the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual in 2009 
(BPM6), the System of National Accounts in 2008 (SNA) and the European System of 
Accounts in 2010 (ESA 2010). One of the key characteristics of these updates was the 
convergence towards more consistent definitions and classifications. Furthermore, 
new breakdowns have become available on a monthly basis for the euro area b.o.p., 
for example transactions for the government sector, which have recently provided 
relevant information for the analysis and more accurate information on equity and debt 
securities issued by euro area residents (including MFIs) due to the full 
implementation of security-by-security collection in the context of external statistics 
combined with a stable and developed Centralised Securities Database (CSDB)5. 

The aim of this paper is threefold. 

First, the paper presents the updated statistical framework of the monetary 
presentation of the b.o.p. in the light of the developments in methodology and data 
availability since the first occasional paper on this subject was published in September 
2008, in particular owing to the review of the international statistical standards (BPM6 
and ESA 2010).6  Box 1 summarises the methodological enhancements in MFI 
balance sheet statistics and balance of payments statistics since 2008, while Annex 2 
describes in detail the new reporting requirements in MFI balance sheet statistics and 
the changes in data availability by sector for the euro area balance of payments 
aggregates. The framework relies on the availability of certain breakdowns in 
monetary statistics and in the b.o.p., as well as on consistency between the two 
datasets. Therefore, the paper can also be used to develop a monetary presentation 
of the b.o.p. for a country other than the euro area as a whole in order to facilitate a 
combined analysis. 

Second, the paper presents enhanced results for the euro area. Particular emphasis is 
given to the external holdings of securities issued by MFIs, which are identifiable in 
monetary statistics only to a very limited extent. With regard to equities and long-term 
debt security liabilities, the b.o.p. data clearly complement the monetary statistics in 
terms of holdings by non-residents. 

5    Database that contains complete, accurate, consistent and up-to-date information on all individual 

securities relevant for the statistical purposes of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). This 
means securities issued by EU residents; securities likely to be held and transacted in by EU residents; 
and securities denominated in euro, regardless of who the issuer is and where they are held. The CSDB 
contains information on over 5 million debt securities, equities and mutual fund shares/units issued by 
residents of EU Member States or by others. 

6    New ECB requirements implemented through the ECB Guideline ECB/2011/23 on external statistics and 
ECB Regulation ECB/2013/33 on MFI balance sheet reporting. For further information, see BPM6 and 
ESA 2010 implementation. 

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Third, the paper aims to combine BSI with b.o.p. statistics in order to analyse the 
economic developments in the euro area since the onset of the financial crisis. These 
developments triggered non-standard monetary policy measures, which had an 
impact on the external sector through different channels. 

Box 1 
Methodological enhancements since 2008 

Since 2008, a number of developments in BSI and b.o.p. statistics have made it possible to refine the 
monetary presentation of the balance of payments. 

With regard to MFIs, under Regulation ECB/2008/32, new data are being collected since June 2010 
on a range of additional asset and liability items, as well as new counterparty and maturity 
breakdowns. Two of these breakdowns – the identification of repos (in deposits) and reverse repos 
(in loans) with domestic central counterparties (CCPs) – led to refinements in M3 and “other assets”. 
In particular, repos with domestic CCPs are excluded from M3 and included in “other assets”. 

Regulation ECB/2013/33 reflected the implementation of ESA 2010 in monetary statistics, which 
involved adding new breakdowns, starting with the reference period of December 2014. One of these 
is the identification of positions in financial derivatives vis-à-vis non-euro area counterparties. 
However, due to the difficulties of deriving transactions from positions in financial derivatives, the 
transactions are still not considered to be of sufficient quality to be included under net external assets. 

Please refer to Tables A.1 and A.2 in Annex 2 for details on all the new reporting requirements 
introduced by the two aforementioned regulations. 

With regard to the b.o.p., in 2008, the CSDB and the implemented security-by-security collection in 
the field of external statistics facilitated the breakdown of euro area portfolio investment liabilities by 
resident sector (Guideline ECB/2007/03). In other words, the portfolio investment liabilities of the euro 
area MFIs, broken down by instrument (i.e. short and long-term securities, equity securities and 
investment fund shares), became available. 

In June 2014, the BPM6 (the IMF’s Balance of Payments Manual – sixth edition) methodology was 
introduced in the euro area. Back data consistent with BPM6 methodology were collected for 
reference periods starting in 2008. Data for the period 1999-2007 were estimated by the ECB. While 
the external statistics Guideline (ECB/2011/23 – as amended) primarily reflected the methodological 
and reporting changes introduced by the BPM6, it also introduced a more detailed sector breakdown 
of the economy, in line with MFI statistics, and more granular geographical and instrument 
breakdowns on a quarterly basis. This allows for a more precise analysis of developments in net 
external assets. Table A.3 in Annex 2 shows the changes in data availability by sector for the euro 
area b.o.p. aggregates. 

In April 2017, a new method of estimating euro currency in circulation outside the euro area was 
introduced for data from 2002 onwards (more details on this method are provided in Section 3.1). 
Given that euro currency in circulation outside the euro area is included in the functional category 
“other investment” in the financial account of the b.o.p., this new estimation method constitutes an 
improvement in measuring net external transactions in the monetary presentation of the b.o.p. 
However, in monetary statistics, currency in circulation is still by default attributed to the domestic 
sector. 

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The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. Chapter 2 describes the two 
statistical frameworks underlying the monetary presentation of b.o.p., therefore the 
counterparts of M3 and the b.o.p. and the intersections between them. Chapter 3 is 
devoted to the practical implementation of the monetary presentation of the b.o.p. in 
the specific context of euro area statistics, explaining in detail the level of consistency 
between the two datasets and what could be defined as enhanced MFI net external 
assets. Chapter 4 uses the monetary presentation of the b.o.p. to analyse euro area 
external transactions and their monetary dynamics since 2008. 

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2 

Framework and approach 

This chapter focuses on the framework of the monetary presentation of the balance of 
payments (b.o.p.) that is formed based on the intersection of two different sets of 
statistics: BSI and b.o.p. To explain the framework, the first section of this chapter 
describes the components of M3 and its counterparts within the MFI balance sheet, 
one of which is the net external assets of the MFIs. The second section explains the 
balance of payments, the dynamics of the principle of double entry and its standard 
presentation according to the nature of the economic resources involved in the 
transactions. It also explains that one of the resident sectors covered by the balance of 
payments is that of the MFIs and therefore the sum of all the financial transactions 
from MFIs included in the balance of payments should be conceptually similar to the 
changes in the net external assets of the MFIs. The third section elaborates on the 
intersection between both sets of statistics and the relevance of mapping the MFI net 
external assets from BSI statistics and MFI financial transactions in the b.o.p. for a 
combined analysis of M3 and its counterparts and the monetary presentation of the 
b.o.p. 

2.1 

MFI balance sheet: M3 and its counterparts 

This section deals with BSI statistics, which are legally required by the ECB. 7  This 
information is used in the compilation of the consolidated euro area MFI balance 
sheet, which provides the basis for the derivation and analysis of euro area monetary 
aggregates and respective counterparts. The consolidated balance sheet is drawn up 
by aggregating the balance sheets of the MFIs resident in the euro area and netting 
the positions between them. In theory, euro area inter-MFI assets and liabilities should 
be equal. In practice, the reported inter-MFI assets differ from inter-MFI liabilities; 
therefore, the MFI consolidated balance sheet includes a residual item named “excess 
of inter-MFI liabilities”. 

The MFI consolidated balance sheet is usually presented according to the 
liquidity/maturity of the financial instruments, from cash at the top to equity at the 
bottom. The items belonging to none of the main instrument categories appear at the 
end as remaining assets/liabilities. Repos are included in deposits and reverse repos 
in loans; only repos are shown explicitly. 

Table 1 presents the main items in the MFI consolidated balance sheet; in particular, 
the breakdowns by instrument and original maturity. 

7    Regulation (EU) No 1071/2013 of the ECB concerning the balance sheet of the monetary financial 
institutions sector (ECB/2013/33) and Guideline ECB/2014/15 on monetary and financial statistics. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

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Table 1 
MFI consolidated balance sheet 

Assets and most of the liability items can be further broken down by residency and 
institutional sector of the counterparts. In particular, the geographical breakdown 
differentiates between transactions with residents inside or outside the euro area. The 
categorisation by counterpart institutional sector makes it possible to identify the 
money-holding sector. 

The broad monetary aggregate M3 is composed of the short-term liabilities vis-à-vis 
resident sectors except other MFIs and the central government. These short-term 
liabilities comprise currency in circulation (banknotes and coins), overnight deposits, 
deposits with an agreed maturity of up to two years, deposits redeemable at notice of 
up to three months, repos – excluding those with resident CCPs8 – money market 
fund (MMF) shares/units and debt securities with a maturity of up to two years. 

Chart 1 presents the main items of the MFI consolidated balance sheet grouped into 
the monetary aggregate M3 and its counterparts, as used in the monetary analysis. 
The chart shows that, owing to the accounting identities of the balance sheet, the M3 
aggregate is obtained by adding together MFI credit to the resident non-MFI sectors 9, 
MFI net external assets and other net assets10, and deducting deposits by the central 
government and MFI long-term liabilities11. That identity holds both for positions and 
for net transactions. The net transactions are not part of the reporting scheme but are 
derived from the difference of positions, from which write-offs, revaluations and 

8    Repos with resident CCPs are excluded from M3, because CCPs mostly intermediate transactions 

between euro area MFIs. 

9    Credit to resident non-MFI sectors includes loans, debt securities, equity and non-money market fund 

shares. 

10    “Other net assets” is obtained by adding together fixed assets, reverse repos with resident CCPs and 
remaining assets, and subtracting repos with resident CCPs, remaining liabilities and the excess of 
inter-MFI liabilities. 

11    MFI long-term liabilities include capital and reserves, debt securities with an original maturity of over two 
years, deposits redeemable at notice of over three months and deposits with an agreed maturity of over 
two years. 

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reclassifications are deducted. The monetary analysis is usually conducted based on 
net transactions that reflect the developments in a particular period of time. 

Chart 1 
M3 and its counterparts in the MFI consolidated balance sheet 

“Net external assets” in MFI balance sheet statistics is defined as the difference 
between the assets of resident MFIs vis-à-vis non-resident counterparties and the 
liabilities of resident MFIs vis-à-vis non-residents. It includes currency (cash on the 
assets side), loans (assets), deposits (liabilities), debt securities and shares, and other 
equity. For some instruments in the MFI consolidated balance sheet, however, no 
geographical breakdown of the MFI counterparties is available. That is particularly the 
case for certain liabilities, such as currency in circulation, debt securities with a 
maturity of over two years and equity. These liabilities are therefore not included in the 
“net external assets” and hence holdings of such instruments by non-residents are 
subsumed under the holdings of euro area residents. Additionally, for some 
instruments such as financial derivatives, while information on the geographical 
breakdown of positions has been available since the last quarter of 2014 within 

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remaining assets/liabilities12, the data on corresponding transactions is not considered 
to be of adequate quality. Therefore, financial derivatives are also not included within 
net external assets. 

Chapter 4 explains the dynamics between the M3 counterparts in greater detail and 
when applied to the monetary developments since 2008. 

2.2 

The balance of payments 

The euro area b.o.p. 13  is a statistical statement that summarises the economic 
transactions between euro area residents and non-residents over a specific period of 
time. Transactions between euro area residents are excluded. 

The b.o.p. is based on a double-entry accounting system. Each transaction is 
recorded as consisting of two entries: a credit entry and a debit entry. Therefore, the 
sum of the credit entries and the sum of the debit entries are equal. 

The accounts within the b.o.p. are distinguished according to the nature of the 
economic resources provided and received (e.g. goods, services, income or financial 
resources). In its standard presentation, the b.o.p. is divided into three main accounts: 
the current account, the capital account and the financial account (see Table 2). The 
current account shows transactions in goods, services and primary and secondary 
income. The capital account shows transactions in non-produced non-financial 
assets14  and capital transfers. The financial account shows net acquisitions of 
financial assets and net incurrences of liabilities.15  In the financial account of the 
b.o.p., transactions in various financial instruments are broken down into five 
functional categories. These categories take into account some aspects of the 
relationship between the parties involved and the motivation for investment. 

12    Remaining assets (or remaining liabilities) are the residual items on the balance sheet comprising assets 
(or liabilities) not included elsewhere, which include in particular what the ESA 2010 calls “other accounts 
receivable/payable” (AF.8), but also certain other items such as positions in financial derivatives (AF.71 in 
the ESA 2010) and accrued interest on deposits and loans, which the ESA 2010 recommends should be 
recorded in the underlying instrument (see also Section 2.5.2). Net amounts receivable/payable in 
respect of the future settlement of transactions in securities or foreign exchange operations are also 
included, as are statistical discrepancies which may arise when entries from the statistical balance sheet 
are derived from the accounting balance sheet. In the MFI balance sheet, most remaining 
assets/liabilities are reported without a geographical breakdown. 

13    The statistical requirements of the ECB in the field of external statistics (b.o.p. and international 

investment position (i.i.p.)) are defined in Guideline ECB/2011/23 of 9 December 2011 (as amended), 
which is aimed at euro area national central banks (NCBs), in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) 
No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 (as amended). Recommendation ECB/2011/24 of 9 December 2011 
(as amended) complements Guideline ECB/2011/23 by being aimed at other competent national 
authorities that are entrusted with the collection and/or compilation of external statistics in their respective 
countries. Guideline (EU) 2018/1151 of the ECB of 2 August 2018 amending Guideline ECB/2011/23 on 
the statistical reporting requirements of the ECB in the field of external statistics will take effect from 
1 March 2021. 

14    An example of a transaction in a non-produced non-financial asset that may be included in the capital 
account would be the acquisition of natural resources, fees paid for the transfer of a football player or 
marketing assets. 

15    While the financial account of the b.o.p. shows transactions in financial assets and liabilities, the i.i.p. 
shows the outstanding amount of resident financial claims on non-residents and resident financial 
liabilities to non-residents. 

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Direct investment is linked to control or a significant degree of influence in the 
company investee, and tends to be associated with a lasting relationship. As well as 
capital, direct investors might also provide know-how, technology, management and 
marketing. Enterprises in a direct investment relationship are more likely to trade with 
each other and finance each other’s activities. The equity that gives rise to control or 
influence in direct investment also captures other types of investment associated with 
that relationship. 

Table 2 
B.o.p. standard presentation 

Account 

Subaccount/Functional category 

Current account (CA) 

Goods 

Services 

Primary Income 

Secondary Income 

Capital account (KA) 

Non-produced non-financial assets 

Financial account (FA) 

Net errors and omissions (E&O) 

Source: IMF BPM6. 

Capital transfers 

Direct investment 

Portfolio investment 

Financial derivatives and employee stock option 

Other investment 

Reserve assets 

Portfolio investment is distinctive because the funds are raised through negotiable 
financial instruments (i.e. debt and equity securities) and therefore the relationship 
between the issuers and holders is mostly anonymous. 

The functional category financial derivatives and employee stock options largely 
coincides with the corresponding financial instrument class, the exception being the 
financial derivatives included in reserve assets. The other investment category mainly 
includes the counterpart entry of other b.o.p. accounts. It also includes financial 
transactions other than those included in the other functional categories. The financial 
instruments in the other investment category are mostly non-negotiable, such as 
currency and deposits, loans and trade credits and advances. Finally, reserve assets 
are those assets readily available and controlled by monetary authorities for meeting 
b.o.p. financing needs and for influencing the currency exchange rate. 

Each functional category encompasses certain financial instruments (see Table A.3 in 
Annex 3 for a detailed breakdown); the same instrument can be present in more than 
one functional category depending on the relationship between the counterparts and 
their purpose. For example, transactions in equity securities can appear under direct 
investment or portfolio investment depending on whether this holding on equities 
represents more or less than 10% of the voting power in the company investee. 

The sum of the balances of the current and the capital accounts (CA + KA) represents 
the net lending (surplus) or net borrowing (deficit) of an economy vis-à-vis the rest of 

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the world. Due to accounting constraints, this is conceptually equal to the net balance 
of the financial account (FA), calculated as the net acquisition of financial assets 
minus the net incurrence of liabilities. Differences between these two alternative 
measures of net lending/net borrowing are commonly identified as the b.o.p. “net 
errors and omissions” (E&O). 

(1) 

CA + KA + (E&O) = FA 

Additionally, each functional category in the financial account is broken down by 
resident sector, i.e. the sector of the asset holder and of the issuer of the liabilities. 
Monthly b.o.p. data are broken down into the following sectors: central banks, other 
MFIs, general government and “other sectors”. These sectors can be divided into 
MFIs (central banks and other MFIs) and non-MFIs; therefore, we can express 
equation 1 as follows: 

(2) 

CA + KA + (E&O) = FANon-MFIs + FAMFIs 

The geographical identification of the counterpart of financial transactions is based on 
the debtor/creditor principle. For example, in a purchase of a US government bond by 
a euro area resident from a British bank, the counterpart of the euro area resident 
(creditor) would be the US government (debtor). For current account transactions, 
excluding investment income, the counterpart is identified based on the transactor 
principle; for example, for services it would be the residency of the service 
provider/consumer and for goods the residency of the seller/buyer of the good. 

To illustrate the double-entry mechanism of a b.o.p. transaction, Figure 1 shows the 
b.o.p. recording of a purchase of umbrellas (€100 million) from China by a euro area 
resident company. This will be shown as an import of goods in the euro area current 
account (debits). The counterpart entry will depend on how the purchase is completed 
or settled. Usually, the resident company will use its deposits in a domestic bank, 
which will decrease (domestic transaction) and this bank will pay the Chinese exporter 
by reducing its deposits (assets) abroad (transaction vis-à-vis non-residents 
recorded). In fact, the two legs of this transaction in the b.o.p. will be included under 
two different sectors: i) the importer of goods will typically be classified as “other 
sector” (non-financial corporation); and ii) the (final) financial counterpart will be the 
MFI executing the payment, through the reduction of its deposits (assets) abroad. 

Figure 1 
Euro area balance of payments 

B.o.p. entries recording a purchase of umbrellas from China by a euro area resident company 
and paid via a domestic bank 

(EUR millions) 

Current account   

Credits   

Goods: Other sectors 

Debits   

+100   

Financial account   

Acquisition of assets   

Incurrence of liabilities 

Other investment (deposits): MFIs 

-100 

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Continuing with the previous example, if the agreement between the exporter and the 
importer (resident) is to pay in six months’ time, this will be reflected in the b.o.p. 
statement as a trade credit, i.e. an incurrence of liabilities by the importer (see 
Figure 2). 

Figure 2 
Euro area balance of payments 

B.o.p. entries recording a purchase of umbrellas from China by a euro area resident company 
to be paid in six months’ time 

(EUR millions) 

Current account   

Credits   

Goods: Other sectors 

Debits   

+100 

Financial account   

Acquisition of assets   

Incurrence of liabilities 

Other investment (trade credits): Other 
sectors 

+100 

In the above examples, net errors and omissions will be 0 as both legs of the 
transaction are fully captured. However, in practice, the different components of the 
b.o.p. are collected autonomously and use different estimation methods; therefore, the 
two counterparts of a transaction do not always fully match. Some legs may not even 
be captured at all. This means that at the end of the b.o.p. compilation process for a 
particular period, the overall effect of imbalances is presented in the “net errors and 
omissions” item. 

2.3 

Intersection of the MFI balance sheet with the balance of 
payments 

As previously mentioned, the aim of the monetary presentation of the b.o.p. is to link 
changes due to transactions in the consolidated MFI balance sheet with transactions 
of the euro area non-MFIs reported in the b.o.p. These can be linked because: 

• 

• 

the MFI balance sheet and the b.o.p. have the following accounting identities: 

(a) 

“assets=liabilities” in the BSI; 

(b) 

“current account + capital account (+E&O) = financial account” in the b.o.p. 

both include financial transactions of MFIs with non-residents, which are known 
as changes in “net external assets” (NEA) in monetary analysis terms. 

The monetary presentation of the standard b.o.p. presentation described in 
Section 2.2 can be obtained in two steps. The first step is to separate within the b.o.p. 
the transactions in financial instruments carried out by resident MFIs (including the 
Eurosystem) from those carried out by the other resident sectors (non-MFIs), as 
shown in equation 2, i.e. to produce a sectoral presentation of the financial account of 
the b.o.p. 

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In Section 2.2, we explained that the b.o.p. can be expressed as: 

(1) 

CA + KA + (E&O) = FA 

As we can separate the transactions in financial instruments performed by MFIs from 
those performed by non-MFIs, we can describe the net financial transactions of MFIs 
as the current and capital account transactions minus the net financial transactions of 
non-MFIs: 

(2) 

CA + KA + (E&O) – FANon-MFIs = FAMFIs 

Using the MFI balance sheet identity shown in Chart 1, the changes in M3 can be 
defined as transactions16  in: 

(3) 

M3 = CR + NEA – CGD- LTFL + OA 

The second step is to combine the equations representing the two statistical 
statements with the MFI net external financial transactions as a common variable. 

As NEA and FAMFIs are conceptually identical, we can make the following substitution 
in the M3 equation: 

(4) 

M3 = CR + (CA + KA – FANon-MFIs) – CGD -LTFL + OA 

The new identity shows how changes in the monetary aggregate M3 can be explained 
by components of the MFI balance sheet as well as by b.o.p. transactions in the 
current and capital account and by b.o.p. financial transactions of resident non-MFIs. 
This is visualised in Chart 2, where the external transactions of MFIs (NEA / FAMFIs) 
constitute the intersection of the two statements. 

16    We are using the same notation as that shown in Chart 1. However, from now on we will refer to 

transactions. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

14 

 
 
                                                                    
Chart 2 
Combined presentation of the MFI balance sheet and the balance of payments 

Using the example in Section 2.2 of the import of goods (umbrellas) by a euro area 
resident, the transaction would have an impact on M3 if the importer paid through a 
domestic bank to a foreign bank, as shown in Figure 1. Based on equation 4, all else 
being equal, the transactions in the CA due to the import of umbrellas would be directly 
reflected in a decrease of M3. However, if the importer agreed with the Chinese seller 
to pay in six months’ time, as reflected in Figure 2, the transaction would not have an 
impact in M3 at the time of the transaction, as the balance sheet of the resident bank 
would not be affected initially. Explaining this example using equation 4, the 
transaction in the CA would be compensated with the transactions in the FA by 
non-MFIs as the delayed payment would appear as an increase in the company’s 
liabilities. 

The dynamic would be similar for a purely financial transaction. For example, the 
impact on M3 of a merger of two non-financial corporations (a resident and a 
non-resident) would depend on how the transaction is settled. If the merger only 
involved an exchange of shares or was paid for through a non-resident bank, it would 
have no impact on the balance sheet of domestic MFIs and consequently would have 
no impact on M3. Conversely, if the shares were paid for by the resident corporation 
through the domestic banking sector, the transaction would have an impact on the 
balance sheet of domestic MFIs, as well as on M3, as the deposits that the resident 
corporation holds in the domestic bank would be reduced. 

A simple example of a household acquiring a foreign asset from a foreign holder 
provides the basis for this interpretation. Figure 3 illustrates how these transactions 
would be reflected in the balance sheets of the residents involved in the operation as 
well as in the balance sheet of the US bank. As payment for its purchase, the 
household instructs its bank to make a monetary transfer to the seller. In doing so, MFI 
net external assets decline, either because the foreign seller receives a deposit in the 
euro area bank acting as intermediary (i.e. an increase in MFI external liabilities) or 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

15 

 
 
 
 
because the euro area bank reduces part of its assets abroad to pay (or issue the 
instruction to pay) the seller in its home country (i.e. a decrease in the bank’s external 
assets). The reverse occurs when the household sells an asset. This analysis would 
be similar for exports and imports of goods and services. 

Explaining this example using equation 4, the purchase of the foreign asset would be 
included in the FA of the non-MFIs and would have a direct effect by decreasing M3. 

Figure 3 
Balance sheets of the parties involved 

Euro area household buys a US bond from a US bank – direct bilateral correspondent banking 

A

EA household

L

A

EA Bank

L

A

US Bank

L

Deposit at 
EA Bank

Loan from 
EA Bank

Loan to EA 
household

Dep. of EA 
household

US gov't 
Bond

Deposit of 
US Gov't

𝑡0

𝑡1

US gov't 
Bond

Loan from 
EA Bank

Loan to EA 
household

Deposit of 
US Bank

Deposit at 
EA Bank

Deposit of 
US Gov't

PI

NEA 

Note: Items in blue represent changes in period 1 with respect to period 0. NEA stands for “MFI net external assets” and PI stands for 
portfolio investment. 

As a general rule, only transactions of non-MFIs in the balance of payments settled 
through the domestic MFIs would affect M3. The actual impact of a transaction on M3 
depends on how the other items of the MFI consolidated balance sheet affect the 
transaction.17 

An example of such a situation is a euro area resident (e.g. household) selling foreign 
bonds to a resident bank (increase in MFI net external assets) and investing the 
proceeds in long-term securities issued by a domestic bank (increase in long-term 
financial liabilities). These two counterparts balance each other out/offset one another 
and do not affect M3 (see Figure 4). The above examples are very useful for 
rationalising the contribution of the external sector to the dynamics of broad money 
growth. 

17    There are two reasons why MFI net external assets can change: (i) resident non-MFIs conduct 

transactions with the rest of the world in assets (or goods and services) not issued/produced by a 
resident MFI; or (ii) MFIs conduct transactions with the rest of the world in instruments issued by the 
domestic non-MFI sector. The first case includes the above-mentioned example and would likely lead to 
a decline in M3, as the amount of deposits held by euro area residents other than MFIs would be reduced 
(unless the household used longer-term deposits or sold a longer-term bond or share issued by an MFI or 
any other asset to finance the transaction). The second case would typically lead to a rearrangement in 
the composition of the asset side of the MFI balance sheet, with no direct impact on M3 (a typical case 
would be an MFI purchase of a domestic or foreign government security from a foreign holder). For 
specific details, also refer to previous sections. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

16 

 
 
 
 
                                                                    
Appling this example to equation 4, the sale of the foreign asset by the euro area (EA) 
household would be included in the FA of the non-MFIs and the purchase of a debt 
security issued by the EA bank would not be a balance of payments transaction. 
However, it would be reflected as an increase in the long-term financial liabilities’ 
counterpart. These two effects would balance each other out/offset one another and 
would not have an impact on M3. 

Figure 4 
Balance sheets of the parties involved 

Euro area household sells a US bond (issued by a bank) to an EA bank and buys a long-term 
bond issued by the EA bank 

Note: Items in blue represent changes in period 1 with respect to period 0. NEA stands for “MFI net external assets”, LTFL stands for 
long-term financial liabilities and PI stands for portfolio investment of non-MFIs. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

17 

 
 
 
 
3 

Integrating data from the balance of 
payments with those from the MFI 
balance sheet 

3.1 

Consistency between datasets 

In principle, the b.o.p. and BSI datasets comply with the relevant international 
statistical standards. Therefore, they are also consistent with each other, using the 
same definitions for institutional units, residency and instruments, as well as other 
concepts and principles. Nonetheless, a number of differences can be identified in the 
practical implementation of these standards, which are accepted for the sake of 
reducing the reporting burden. These differences are related to the collection 
methods/systems, the deadline for reporting data, the required details and 
simplifications in either one of the reporting systems. 

In this context, one of the major challenges of the above-mentioned theoretical 
framework is the limitations regarding the identification of certain MFI transactions 
vis-à-vis non-residents in BSI statistics, in particular for securities issued by MFIs. 

Differences in the recording of securities issued by euro area MFIs 
and held by non-euro area residents 

In general, it is not easy to identify the residency of the holders, in particular when 
intermediaries are involved. This difficulty is resolved differently in b.o.p. and BSI 
statistics, taking into consideration the main focus of the dataset and its respective 
constraints. Table A.5 in Annex 3 shows that the availability of data on equity and debt 
security liabilities vis-à-vis non-euro area residents is different in both sets of statistics. 

In monetary statistics, the instruments included in M3, such as: (i) money market fund 
shares; and (ii) debt securities with an original maturity of less than two years, are 
broken down by residency of the holder, in most cases based on information relating 
to the first known purchaser. However, instruments that are not included in M3, such 
as liabilities on: (i) equities (excluding money market fund shares); and (ii) debt 
securities with an original maturity of more than two years, are collected without a 
breakdown by residency of the holder. 

In b.o.p. statistics, however, a residual approach is taken to identify securities held by 
non-residents. B.o.p. compilers collect information for holdings (of MFI debt securities) 
by all euro area resident sectors, which they deduct from the total securities issued by 
the euro area MFIs. The residual securities are those issued by MFIs and held by 
non-euro area residents. This approach is used for MMF shares, equity, and short and 
long-term debt securities. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

18 

 
 
As depicted in Chart 3a, large net purchases/sales of debt securities issued by MFIs 
and held by non-euro area residents are more frequent than net purchases/sales of 
equities. The differences in the estimation of the geographical breakdown and the 
large volume of transactions in debt securities make this item a potential source of 
large discrepancies when defining net external assets in both sets of statistics. 
Chart 3b shows that these discrepancies are generally larger than those for MMFs 
and equity, and strongly influence the trend of total discrepancies for securities issued 
by MFIs in BSI and b.o.p. statistics. 

Chart 3 
Securities issued by euro area MFIs and held by non-residents 

(EUR billions; four-quarter cumulated transactions) 

Debt securities
MMF shares
Equity securities

a) Securities by type in the euro area b.o.p.

150

100

50

0

-50

-100

-150

-200

12/08

12/09

12/10

12/11

12/12

12/13

12/14

12/15

12/16

12/17

12/18

(EUR billions; four-quarter cumulated transactions) 

Differences total securities
Differences (MMF shares)

Equities (only b.op.)
Differences (debt  securities)

b) Differences in BSI reporting compared to b.o.p. reporting

125

75

25

-25

-75

-125

12/08

12/09

12/10

12/11

12/12

12/13

12/14

12/15

12/16

12/17

12/18

Source: ECB. 

A comparison of MMF shares reveals some discrepancies due to the different 
compilation methods in b.o.p and in MFI balance sheet statistics. Although there is in 
principle little trading of MMF shares in secondary markets, the intervention of 
intermediaries buying, holding and selling shares/securities on behalf of their clients 
can make it difficult to identify the residency of the actual holders. In such cases, the 
first counterpart – the custodian or other intermediary – may be known, but the final 
investor is often unknown. Identifying residency becomes increasingly complicated as 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

19 

 
 
 
 
the length of the chain of intermediaries increases. Therefore, the residual approach 
used for b.o.p. figures may be more accurate than the respondent information based 
on the first known counterpart used for BSI statistics. The cumulative discrepancies for 
a 12-month period are around €25 billion but tend to balance out over time (see 
Chart 3b). 

As mentioned previously, BSI statistics do not record the residency of holders of equity 
issued by MFIs, so they are not included under net external assets. MFI equity is 
included as capital and reserves under the counterpart long-term financial liabilities. 
However, b.o.p. statistics include these equities under two different functional 
categories: direct and portfolio investment. Except for direct investors, the residency of 
the holder is usually unknown to the issuing MFI (which is the statistical reporter). 
Therefore, the geographical breakdown of MFI equity held by non-residents needs to 
be calculated following a residual approach. Chart 3a shows these figures, which for 
the ten years under analysis reflect mostly inflows or net purchases of MFI equity by 
non-euro area residents. Chart 3b shows how this component contributes to the total 
discrepancies between BSI and b.o.p. for securities issued by euro area MFIs. These 
discrepancies can periodically reach large values, such as in the second quarter of 
2014, when net purchases by non-residents of MFI equity reached €20 billion. 

Section 3.2 explains how the available b.o.p. data on securities issued by MFIs could 
be used to improve identification of the NEA counterpart. 

Chart 4 
Differences in MFI net external assets –BSI minus b.o.p. 

(EUR billions; four-quarter cumulated transactions) 

Total discrepancy 
Differences in securities issued by MFIs

Other investment instruments (only in b.o.p.)
Due to implementation (including banknotes)

125

75

25

-25

-75

-125

12/08

12/09

12/10

12/11

12/12

12/13

12/14

12/15

12/16

12/17

12/18

Source: ECB. 

Chart 4 shows a summary of the differences between the two datasets, the source 
and the relevance of those differences. The main differences occur when recording 
securities issued by resident MFIs and held by non-residents, which display very 
cyclical behaviour. The differences explained by “Other investment instruments” 
reflect MFI transactions vis-à-vis non-euro area residents that are included under 
other net assets (OA), as there is no geographical counterpart in BSI statistics. The 
third set of differences cover differences in timing and implementation that may lead to 
temporal discrepancies due to data vintages, which tend to disappear over time. They 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

20 

 
 
 
also include the different treatment of euro banknote holdings. Annex 3 provides 
further detailed explanations. 

3.2 

Defining enhanced net external assets 

Given the methodological consistency between b.o.p. and MFI balance sheet 
statistics, information available from the b.o.p dataset can help to further 
identify/define net external assets. For the purposes of this enhancement, the current 
compilation of M3 is taken as a basis in spite of certain differences explained in the 
previous chapter. Therefore, based on the b.o.p. data available on a monthly basis, 
this chapter describes the enhancements of the net external asset counterpart of M3 
by introducing some reclassifications from/to other counterparts, such as long-term 
financial liabilities.18  The following reallocations are considered in this enhancement: 

• 

• 

Net purchases/sales by non-euro area residents of equity issued by euro area 
MFIs available in b.o.p. can be deducted from the long-term financial liabilities 
counterpart and included under net external assets. 

Net purchases/sales by non-residents of debt securities issued by euro area 
MFIs can also be removed from long-term financial liabilities and allocated to net 
external assets. In theory, only transactions in debt securities with an original 
maturity of over two years should be reclassified as net external assets, as those 
with a shorter maturity are already included in NEA. However, the b.o.p. has no 
information on the maturity breakdown (for one to two years) of traded debt 
securities. So, in practice, external transactions on debt securities with maturities 
of up to two years can be calculated by deducting from the total transactions on 
debt securities (from the b.o.p.) those with original maturities of up to two years 
(from the MFI balance sheet statistics). 

From an analytical point of view, using available b.o.p. data for the enhancement of 
the M3 counterparts is useful for observing turning points and more accurately 
analysing the effect of the different counterparts in M3. In this way, the definition of the 
net external assets of BSI and b.o.p. are closer and the analytical power of the 
monetary presentation improves. Considering data from 2008 onwards, the effect of 
the enhancement in the net external assets is rather cyclical, being negative in some 
periods and positive in others, as illustrated in Chart 5. For example, a significant 
correction of the MFI net external assets took place in the second part of 2014, when 
the enhanced net external assets started decreasing before the official calculation. 
This was due to the fact that a significant part of the recapitalisation of some banks in 
Italy, Greece and Spain was due to share purchases by non-euro area residents. 

18    See the implementation of the enhanced MFI net external assets in Annex 1. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

21 

 
 
                                                                    
Chart 5 
Net external assets as a counterpart of M3 

(Four-quarter cumulated; annual percentage changes; percentage point contributions) 

Enhanced *
Current BSI calculation
Difference

5%

4%

3%

2%

1%

0%

-1%

-2%

-3%

12/08

12/09

12/10

12/11

12/12

12/13

12/14

12/15

12/16

12/17

12/18

Source: ECB. 

A limitation of these enhancements is that they can only be performed three weeks 
after the publication of the official monetary aggregates and its counterparts, as the 
monthly b.o.p. is published later. However, a revision of the MFI net external assets in 
the light of the later publication of b.o.p. data for the month could be of analytical value. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

22 

 
 
 
4 

4.1 

External transactions and monetary 
dynamics since 2008 

External monetary flows: a key item in the analysis of 
broad money growth 

The counterparts framework outlined in Section 2.1 reveals that external flows have 
been a significant factor in explaining monetary dynamics in the euro area since the 
creation of the monetary union, and that their relative importance has significantly 
increased in recent years. Since January 1999, the contribution of MFI net external 
assets to the annual growth rate of M3 (the reference broad money aggregate for the 
ECB) has fluctuated between +/-5 percentage points. With the strong moderation of 
credit flows since the Great Recession, money inflows and outflows to and from the 
rest of the world have become a key determinant of broad money growth in the euro 
area (see Chart 6). As such, the analysis of such flows has come to the fore of the 
ECB’s monetary analysis. 

Chart 6 
M3 and counterparts 

(Annual percentage changes; percentage point contributions) 

M3
Net external assets
Credit to the private sector

Credit to general government
Longer-term financial liabilities (inverted sign)
Remaining counterparts

25

20

15

10

5

0

-5

-10

-15

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

Source: ECB and ECB calculations. 
Note: Latest observation: June 2019. 

In its most basic formulation, the monetary analysis framework is grounded in the 
long-term relationship between the money balances held by the public (i.e. the 
money-holding sector, which comprises all resident sectors except MFIs and central 
governments) and the inflation rate measured by consumer prices. This relationship 
holds only between the low frequency components of these two variables and needs 
to take into account the interaction with wealth accumulation and asset prices. In other 
words, a crucial and challenging task in monetary analysis is to disentangle low 
frequency (or trend) movements in the broad monetary aggregate M3 from those due 
to regular business cycle dynamics or shorter-term volatility, as well as the nature and 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

23 

 
 
 
purpose of the existing money balances. In this context, the monetary presentation of 
the b.o.p. facilitates the task of tracing the origin of changes in money balances that 
result from the interaction of money holders with the rest of the world. 

Taking a broader perspective, monetary flows between euro area money holders and 
the rest of the world typically reflect payments relating to two main types of 
transactions: (i) goods and services transactions, as well as the remuneration of 
income produced by foreign assets (mostly captured under the current account); and 
(ii) trading of financial instruments (included in the financial account). These two broad 
types of transactions tend to reflect different underlying economic factors. 

Net exports of goods and services reflect the balance between external demand 
(driven by the degree of competitiveness of the domestic products vis-à-vis the rest of 
the world (see Chart 7)) and the internal demand (driven by the intertemporal 
allocation between consumption and saving, which in turn is affected by policy and 
demographic factors). By contrast, financial investments of non-MFIs, particularly 
those classified under portfolio investment, mainly reflect yield fluctuations19  and risk 
considerations, as well as the availability of securities in the market (see Charts 8 and 
9). This simplified distinction helps to explain why flows relating to current account 
transactions tend to display a significantly higher persistence than those relating to 
financial, and in particular portfolio, investment (see Chart 10). 

Chart 7 
Euro area current account balance and competitiveness 

(EUR billions; 12-month cumulated transactions; 12-month index average) 

Current and capital account balance (left-hand scale)
Competitiveness of the euro area (right-hand scale)

500

400

300

200

100

0

-100

-200

-80

-85

-90

-95

-100

-105

-110

-115

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Source: ECB and ECB calculations. 
Notes: The competitiveness of the euro area illustrated by the real effective exchange rate against a group of 19 trading partners, 
deflated by the unit labour costs of the total economy. Interpolated from quarterly series. Latest observation: June 2019. 

19    More persistent trends in yield differentials may also be due to secular differences in the respective 
equilibrium rates, e.g. due to productivity or demographic trends, illustrating the interconnectedness 
between current and financial accounts, also at the sectoral level. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

24 

 
 
 
                                                                    
Chart 8 
Net portfolio investment in debt securities and its determinants 

(12-month cumulated transactions in EUR billions; 12-month average in percentage points) 

Net portfolio investment in debt securities by non-MFIs (lhs)
Difference between German and US 10-year yield (rhs)
Net issuance of euro area government securities minus net purchases of such type of securities by the Eurosystem (lhs)

800

600

400

200

0

-200

-400

-600

0.8

0.4

0.0

-0.4

-0.8

-1.2

-1.6

-2.0

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

Source: ECB and ECB calculations. 
Notes: Equity investment includes investment fund shares. Net portfolio investment is displayed with a negative sign in order to match 
the direction of the related monetary flows. Latest observation: June 2019. 

Chart 9 
Net portfolio investment in equities and its determinants 

(12-month cumulated transactions in EUR billions; annual percentage changes) 

Net portfolio investment in equity securities by non-MFIs (lhs)
Eurostoxx 50 (rhs)

400

200

0

-200

-400

50

25

0

-25

-50

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Source: ECB and ECB calculations. 
Notes: Net portfolio investment is displayed with a negative sign in order to match the direction of the related monetary flows. Latest 
observation: June 2019. 

A proper interpretation of MFI net external assets as a tool for tracking net monetary 
inflows into the euro area must also take into account that while all monetary flows 
between euro area money holders and non-euro area residents cause a change in the 
net external assets of euro area MFIs (provided that such flows are intermediated by a 
euro area bank), not all changes in MFI net external assets are reflected in an increase 
or decrease in M3. Indeed, when MFIs trade a domestic non-MFI security with the rest 
of the world, this is just reflected as a swap between domestic and (net) external 
assets of the MFIs, leaving M3 unchanged, at least in the first stage. An example of 
this case is the Eurosystem’s acquisition of euro area government debt securities from 
foreign investors in the context of the APP, which is discussed in the following section. 
Section 2.3 includes other specific examples illustrating the dynamics between MFI 
net external assets and M3 (or the rest of its counterparts). 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

25 

 
 
 
 
4.2 

Recent developments in external monetary flows 

The considerations above provide guidance in interpreting developments in external 
monetary flows over the past decade. The period from early 2008 to early 2012 was 
characterised by relatively short-lived fluctuations in MFI net external assets, 
especially compared with those after 2012.20 

In early 2008, the decline in global demand, increasing uncertainty and decreasing 
stock prices resulted in the current account turning moderately negative and 
foreigners selling euro area equities. This added to the typical euro area net direct 
investment abroad, the overall result of which was net monetary outflows from the 
euro area (see Chart 10). 

Chart 10 
Monetary presentation of the euro area balance of payments 

MFI net external assets and mirror b.o.p. transactions 

(12-month cumulated transactions as percentage point contributions to the annual growth rate of M3) 

MFIs' net external assets
Current account and capital accounts (non-MFIs)
Portfolio investment (non-MFIs) - Equity securities 

Portfolio investment (non-MFIs) - Debt instruments
Direct investment (non-MFIs)
Other

8

6

4

2

0

-2

-4

-6

-8

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Source: ECB and ECB calculations. 
Notes: Net portfolio items of the financial account are displayed with a negative sign in order to match the direction of the related 
monetary flows. Equity investment includes investment fund shares. The item “Other” includes other investment, financial derivatives, 
errors and omissions, as well as methodological discrepancies between BSI and b.o.p. statistics. MFI net external assets are from BSI 
statistics. Latest observation: June 2019. 

External monetary inflows into the euro area quickly turned positive as euro area 
governments responded to the recession with strong fiscal stimuli. The increased 
issuance of government debt securities attracted foreign investors and may also have 
helped to reduce euro area investments abroad (see Chart 8). These inflows were 
reinforced by retrenchment from international markets following the collapse of 
Lehman Brothers in late 2008. 

20    This section does not use in its analysis the enhanced MFI net external asset presented in Section 3.3, 
as we thought it would be interesting to show data from 2006, and the enhanced MFI net external assets 
are currently only available from 2008. The use of the latter would, in most cases, reduce the residual 
component shown as “Other” in Chart 10, thus would not alter the explanation of the main drivers of the 
enhanced net external assets. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

26 

 
 
 
                                                                    
Chart 11 
Net portfolio investment of non-MFIs in debt securities 

(12-month cumulated transactions in EUR billions) 

Total
Portfolio Investment (non-MFIs other than general government) - debt liabiliites
Portfolio investment (general government) - debt liabilities

Portfolio Investment (non-MFIs)  - debt assets

800

600

400

200

0

-200

-400

-600

-800

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Source: ECB and ECB calculations. 
Notes: Annual flows for the sectoral breakdown of portfolio investment liabilities can only be shown from December 2008, as the first 
breakdown was published in January 2008. Net portfolio investment is displayed with a negative sign in order to match the direction of 
the related monetary flows. Latest observation: June 2019. 

With the pick-up in global demand and the reactivation of international supply chains 
at the end of the Great Recession, the moderate current account deficit also 
disappeared. As a result, dynamics in external monetary flows until 2012 mostly 
mirrored that of portfolio investment, typically driven by yield as well as risk 
considerations. The decline in the relative yield of the German Bund – the long-term 
reference rate in the euro area – is likely to have been an important incentive for euro 
area residents to invest abroad again and for foreigners to reduce their net purchases 
of euro area securities. The latter was exacerbated by the euro area sovereign debt 
crisis, which unfolded in two waves: spring 2010 and summer 2011. In the months 
following those episodes, non-euro area residents sold net amounts of euro area 
government securities despite the fact that the net supply of such securities was still 
growing at a fast pace, resulting in a temporary increase in home bias of the Monetary 
Union.21 

The announcement that the ECB could conduct Outright Monetary Transactions 
(OMTs) in the secondary markets of euro area government bonds led to a drastic 
change in the sentiment of international investors towards the euro area after the 
summer of 2012.22 23  Their purchases of euro area equity and debt securities surged 
(see Chart 11). In parallel, the structural reforms and adjustment policies implemented 
in many euro area countries brought about a sustained improvement of the external 
competitiveness of the euro area, and thus a current account surplus started to 
develop.24  Weak internal demand relative to that of the rest of the world also 
reinforced this development, particularly in the initial years of this phase. Portfolio 

21    Brutti and Sauré (2016) analyse the opposing preferences of domestic and foreign investors in the 

countries most affected by the sovereign crisis. 

22    On 6 September 2012, the Governing Council of the ECB decided to introduce the option of undertaking 
OMTs in secondary markets for sovereign bonds in the euro area. This tool aims to ensure effective 
transmission of the Eurosystem’s monetary policy and, thereby, to secure the necessary conditions for 
the effective conduct of the single monetary policy within the euro area. 

23    Bubeck, Habib and Manganelli (2018) find that President Draghi’s “Whatever it takes” speech was 

associated with the largest positive surprise to average euro area long-term rates. 

24    Galstyan (2019) shows that there is a link between the increase in the current account surplus of the euro 

area and income shift from wages to corporate profits.   

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

27 

 
 
 
                                                                    
inflows and the current account surplus resulted in about two years of strong external 
monetary inflows, which became the only source of solid money creation in the euro 
area. From late 2013 to late 2014, MFI net external assets contributed between 3 and 
4 percentage points to the annual growth of euro area M3. This offset the substantially 
negative contribution of credit to the private sector, thus preventing broad money 
growth from falling into negative territory (see Chart 6). Reflecting the high degree of 
competitiveness of the euro area and buoyant global demand, the current account 
surplus has continued to be a solid source of monetary inflows. 

Chart 12 
Portfolio investment in debt securities 

(12-month cumulated transactions in EUR billions; 12-month average in percentage points) 

Non-residents' net purchases of euro area debt securities
Residents' net purchases of non-euro area debt securities
Yield differential

700

450

200

-50

-300

-550

-800

0.0

-0.5

-1.0

-1.5

-2.0

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

Source: ECB and ECB calculations. 
Notes: Assets (and therefore also net amounts) of the financial account are displayed with a negative sign in order to match the direction 
of the related monetary flows. Latest observation: June 2019. 

By contrast, dynamics in portfolio investment turned around in the second half of 2014, 
following the announcement of the ECB’s credit easing package, the introduction of a 
negative interest rate on the ECB’s deposit facility and the expectations and final 
announcement of the APP.25  These measures introduced a significant monetary 
easing impulse to the euro area economy, having a rapid impact on bank and market 
rates, and reinforcing the decline in government bond yields.26  The impact on portfolio 
investment flows was almost immediate. 

Portfolio investment in debt securities continued to drive developments in MFI net 
external assets in the APP period. The implementation of the APP began in 
March 2015, with the size of monthly net asset purchases amounting to €60 billion a 
month. In order to support the pass-through of the monetary policy impulse to the real 
economy, the programme was expanded one year later to also include private sector 
securities among the purchases. The size of the total average monthly purchases was 
also temporarily increased. It reached €80 billion between April 2016 and March 2017, 
before returning to €60 billion by the end of 2017. Overall, the decline in the long-term 

25    The credit easing package and the introduction of a negative deposit facility interest rate were announced 
on 5 June 2014. The expanded APP was announced on 22 January 2015. See the APP for further 
details. 

26    See Altavilla, Carboni, and Motto (2015). 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

28 

 
 
 
                                                                    
yield differential between the euro area and the rest of the world, propitiated by the 
large purchases of government securities carried out by the Eurosystem, incentivised 
both resident and non-resident investors to rebalance away from euro area debt 
securities.27  By and large, outflows from debt securities were not offset by inflows into 
equities (see Chart 13). 

Net portfolio outflows in debt securities (by both residents and non-residents) began to 
decline in the first few months of 2018, following the reduction in monthly APP 
purchases from €60 billion to €30 billion in January 2018. However, a decoupling 
between the behaviour of these two groups of investors emerged after May 2018, with 
non-residents returning to sell euro area debt securities. This decoupling coincided 
with a sharp repricing of the Italian sovereign debt risk. In addition, the renewed 
decline in the long-term yield differential vis-à-vis the United States and growing 
macroeconomic uncertainty reinforced the move of non-residents away from euro 
area debt securities.28 

Chart 13 
Net purchases in portfolio investment and yield differential over the APP period 

(Left-hand side: EUR billions; average monthly transactions in each period compared to historical average transactions; right-hand side: 
basis points; average yield differential in each period compared to the historical average) 

June 2013 - May 2014
June 2014 - February 2015 (credit easing, negative DFR and APP expectations)
March 2015 - March 2016 (APP net purchases: €60 billion per month)
April 2016 - March 2017 (APP net purchases: €80 billion per month)
April 2017 - December 2017 (APP net purchases: €60 billion per month)
January 2018 - December 2018 (APP net purchases: €30 billion per month, €15 billion in the last quarter)

40

20

0

-20

-40

-60

-80

-100

-120

-140

Euro area
residents

Foreigners

Net

Euro area
residents

Foreigners

Net

Yield differential

Portfolio investment debt securities
(government; left-hand scale)

Portfolio investment equity securities
(left-hand scale)

DE-US yield
differential (right-
hand scale)

Source: ECB and ECB calculations. 
Notes: Assets (and therefore also net amounts) of the financial account are displayed with a negative sign in order to match the direction 
of the related monetary flows. The historical averages are calculated for the period January 2006 (first available period for the relevant 
b.o.p. series) and May 2014, the month before the announcement of the credit easing package and the implementation of a negative 
remuneration of the ECB deposit facility. 

By contrast, the annual monetary outflows relating to the purchases of foreign debt 
securities by euro area residents continued to decline. The behaviour of euro area 
residents in this period is consistent with the generalised increase in investors’ risk 
aversion, particularly (arising) after the summer, as well as with the tensions affecting 

27    See for instance Albertazzi et al. (2018), Bergant et al. (2018) and Adalid and Palligkinis (2016), who 
analyse the portfolio behaviour of the various euro area institutional sectors in response to the ECB’s 
public sector purchase programme (PSPP). 

28    Other factors, such as the inaction of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was passed by the US Federal 
Government in December 2017 and led to a repatriation of accumulated foreign earnings by US-based 
parent companies of multinational enterprises, also supported monetary outflows by non-residents 
during 2018 (see Box 1 of the ECB Economic Bulletin, Issue 4/2019). 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

29 

 
 
 
                                                                    
the Italian sovereign, which led Italian residents to redirect part of their investment 
flows towards domestic government securities. Both aspects reinforced the typical 
home bias affecting resident investors. 

Chart 14 
Impact of the PSPP on net purchases of euro area government securities by sectors 
other than the Eurosystem 

(As a percentage of total purchases of euro area government securities by the Eurosystem between March 2015 and December 2018) 

0

-10

-20

-30

-40

-50

MFIs (excluding Eurosystem)

Residents (excluding MFIs)

Non-residents

Sources: ECB and ECB calculations based on Adalid and Palligkinis (2016). 
Note: Latest observation: December 2018. 

The period of APP net asset purchases ended in December 2018. Overall, 
non-residents displayed a somewhat stronger reaction to the Eurosystem’s APP 
purchases (see Chart 14). Two factors may explain this: first, the above-mentioned 
home bias affecting resident investors; second, within euro area instruments, foreign 
investors seem to have a strong preference for government securities (in fact, the bulk 
of foreign investment flows into euro area debt securities has historically consisted of 
government securities (see Chart 11)). This may explain why, despite being the 
largest net sellers of government securities (reflecting the strong and inelastic demand 
for these securities exerted by the Eurosystem), they did not heavily reinvest those 
proceeds in other euro area instruments. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

30 

 
 
 
5 

Conclusion 

In essence, the monetary presentation of the balance of payments (b.o.p.) provides a 
consistent framework, whereby changes in the net external position of the resident 
MFIs are represented as a mirror image of changes in the net external position of the 
resident non-MFI sector. This presentation of the b.o.p. reflects the unique role of 
MFIs in cross-border financial intermediation. In fact, MFIs play a pivotal role in the 
exchange of assets, goods and services by all the other resident sectors and are the 
sole issuers of monetary instruments. 

The update and implementation of the international manuals – BPM6 and ESA 2010 – 
have improved the consistency between BSI and b.o.p statistics. However, owing to 
the different focus and purpose of each set of statistics, some discrepancies remain. 
Future developments are expected to reduce these differences. For example, a single 
data source would reduce data differences in the geographical area of the holder of 
euro area MMF share liabilities or transactions in financial derivatives. The European 
System of Central Banks (ESCB) is working towards an Integrated Reporting 
Framework (IReF) for credit institutions. The idea behind this project is to integrate, as 
far as possible, existing ESCB statistical data requirements (e.g. BSI and b.o.p. data) 
into a single framework, applicable across countries and data domains. This will 
improve comparability of data across datasets, as there will be a single set of concepts 
and definitions as well as a data collection framework free from redundancies. 

For the time being, complementing net external assets of BSI with b.o.p. data 
improves the consistency of both datasets as far as securities are concerned. 
Although this enhancement comes with the publication of the monthly b.o.p., which 
takes place three weeks after the publication of the monetary aggregates and its 
counterparts, it is still very useful for improving its analytical value. In particular, from 
2008 to 2018, the b.o.p. figures show systematic net purchases of MFI shares by 
non-residents (mostly relating to recapitalisation operations), while net purchases of 
MFI debt securities by non-residents show a rather unsystematic pattern. 

A proper interpretation of MFI net external assets as a tool for tracking net monetary 
inflows into the euro area must also take into account that all monetary flows between 
euro area money holders and non-euro area residents cause a change in the net 
external assets of euro area MFIs (provided that such flows are intermediated by a 
resident bank). Nonetheless, not all changes in MFI net external assets are reflected 
in M3, as they can also be offset in other M3 counterparts. 

The first step to including external flows in the monetary analysis is to understand the 
nature of the flows between resident money holders and the rest of the world. This is 
made possible thanks to the monetary presentation of the b.o.p that can provide 
information on the nature of these transactions and therefore guidance on the 
persistence of the monetary signal stemming from external flows. 

This distinction was crucial in the second part of the decade, when monetary inflows 
relating to a growing and sustained current account surplus coexisted with those 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

31 

 
 
relating to portfolio transactions. As such, the former displayed a significant persistent 
trend, with only minor fluctuations, while the latter fluctuated strongly, showing a 
strong responsiveness to financial and monetary policy considerations. 

By creating a conceptual framework that links the portfolio decisions of resident and 
non-resident sectors with developments in broad money growth, the monetary 
presentation of the b.o.p. has provided highly valuable information, which has 
contributed to the understanding of the transmission of non-standard monetary policy 
measures. With the headwinds currently facing global trade and the high amount of 
global liquidity created over the past few years, the monetary presentation of the b.o.p. 
will remain a key tool that can inform the monetary analysis of the ECB. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

32 

 
 
Annex 1 

Table A.1 presents the monetary presentation of the balance of payments that 
combines monthly data from BSI and b.o.p. statistics.29  The first three columns 
include information relating to the MFI net external assets. As defined in Section 3.2, 
the enhanced MFI net external assets incorporate an adjustment to the MFI net 
external assets (BSI) based on information regarding MFI long-term financial liabilities 
held by non-residents available in the b.o.p. statistics. Column 1 reflects the enhanced 
MFI net external assets, column 2 the published MFI net external assets as 
counterparts of M3, and column 3 the net transactions by non-euro area residents in 
equity and debt securities issued by euro area MFIs available in the b.o.p. and 
included under MFI long-term financial liabilities in the M3 counterparts. Columns 4 to 
13 include b.o.p. transactions carried out by non-MFIs that are mirroring the net 
transactions of the MFIs. The differences in the enhanced net external assets and the 
b.o.p. mirror transactions are included together with the net errors and omissions 
under a column named “Statistical discrepancies”. 

Table A.1 
Monetary presentation of the euro area balance of payments 

Source: ECB. 
Notes: Data refer to the changing composition of the euro area. For further information, see the General Notes. MFI net external assets 
enhanced incorporates an adjustment to the MFI net external assets (BSI) based on information of MFIs long-term financial liabilities 
held by non-resident available in b.o.p. statistics. 

29    See b.o.p. items mirroring net transactions by MFIs. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

33 

 
 
 
                                                                    
Annex 2 

Table A.2 
MFI statistics covered by Regulation ECB/2013/33 (July 2015 report) 

Source: ECB Economic Bulletin, Issue 8/2015, p. 74. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

34 

 
 
 
Table A.3 
New MFI statistics covered by Regulation ECB/2008/32 (June 2010 report) 

Table A.4 
Sector breakdowns for the euro area balance of payments position aggregates 

Source: ECB Monthly Bulletin August 2014, p. 91. 
Note: “Other MFIs” refers to monetary financial institutions excluding central banks; “NPISHs” refers to non-profit institutions serving 
households. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

35 

 
 
 
 
 
Annex 3 

Additional useful methodological tips for understanding the b.o.p. 
statistics 

The b.o.p. 30  is a statistical statement that summarises the economic transactions 
between residents and non-residents over a specific period of time. Transactions are 
recorded whenever there is a change in “economic ownership31”. 

The current and capital accounts record gross transactions. By contrast, the financial 
account records transactions in net terms. In other words, they reflect net changes 
arising from all credit and debit entries during the accounting period, separately for 
each financial asset and liability. The net acquisition of financial assets is calculated as 
the sum of all acquisitions minus sales (or redemptions) of assets, whereas the net 
incurrence of liabilities is calculated as the sum of all incurrences minus redemptions 
of liabilities. For net acquisitions of financial assets, a plus sign denotes a net increase 
in financial assets while a minus sign refers to a net decrease in financial assets, 
likewise for net incurrences of liabilities. Furthermore, the balance on transactions is 
calculated by subtracting net incurrences of liabilities from net acquisitions of financial 
assets. 

Due to the double entry in the international accounts, “imputations” are sometimes 
necessary when a transaction has only one observed leg. For example, unilateral 
transfers such as migrant remittances, in addition to affecting the positions of domestic 
banks with foreign banks, have to be included in the current account. If this 
“imputation” is not done, the increase in assets in the financial account would not have 
a counterpart entry in the current account and therefore contribute to net errors and 
omissions. Figure A.1 shows the entries in an economy’s b.o.p. resulting from the 
receipt of migrant remittances. 

30    The statistical requirements of the ECB in the field of external statistics (b.o.p. and i.i.p.) are defined in 
Guideline ECB/2011/23 of 9 December 2011 (as amended), which is aimed at euro area NCBs, in 
accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 (as amended). 
Recommendation ECB/2011/24 of 9 December 2011 (as amended) complements Guideline 
ECB/2011/23 by addressing other competent national authorities that are entrusted with the collection 
and/or compilation of external statistics in their respective countries. 

31    A change in ownership from an economic point of view means that all risks, rewards, and rights and 

responsibilities of ownership are in practice transferred. In general, a change in “legal ownership” also 
involves a change in economic ownership. However, in some cases, a change of “economic ownership” 
takes place even though the “legal ownership” remains unchanged (e.g. financial leases and 
transactions between an enterprise and its foreign branches). 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

36 

 
 
                                                                    
Figure A.1 
Euro area balance of payments 

B.o.p. entries recording migrant remittances 

(EUR millions) 

Current account   

Secondary income (current transfers): 
Other sectors 

Credits   

+100 

Debits   

Financial account   

Acquisition of assets   

Incurrence of liabilities   

Other investment (deposits): MFIs 

+100 

Consistency between datasets 

The statistical framework for the monetary presentation of the b.o.p. aims to 
distinguish between financial transactions of the MFI sector and transactions by 
non-MFIs in order to mirror the NEA in the MFI balance sheet. However, the 
implementation of this link has so far resulted in two major challenges from the 
above-mentioned theoretical framework, namely (i) limitations regarding the 
identification of certain MFI transactions vis-à-vis non-residents in BSI statistics, in 
particular for securities issued by MFIs and the (ii) consistency in practice for the 
availability of some instruments. 

Table A.5 summarises per instrument the respective availability, coverage and 
potential comparability challenges between the two datasets. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

37 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Table A.5 
Coverage and data compatibility of b.o.p. and BSI statistics 

similar coverage 

partial coverage 

total missing 

not applicable 

B.o.p. by institutional sector  

BSI net external assets   

Subaccount/ 
Functional 
category 

Financial 
instrument 

Goods 

Services 

Income 

Account 

Current 
account 

Capital account 

Institutional sector 

External assets 

External liabilities 

All sectors 

All sectors 

All sectors 

All sectors 

Financial 
account 

Direct 
investment 

Assets/liabilities 

Equity 

MFIs 

Central 
Bank 

Other 
DTC 

MMF 

Shares and other 
equity 

MMF shares/units 

General government 

Other sectors 

Debt instruments 

MFIs 

Central 
Bank 

Other 
DTC 

MMF 

Securities other than 
shares / loans 

Debt securities up to 
2yr / deposits 

Portfolio 
investment 

Equity and 
investment fund 
shares 

General government 

Other sectors 

MFIs 

Central 
Bank 

Other 
DTC 

MMF 

General government 

Other sectors 

MFIs 

Debt securities 
- short term 
- long term 

Central 
Bank 

Other 
DTC 

MMF 

Shares and other 
equity 

MMF shares/units 

Securities other than 
shares 

Debt securities up to 
2 yr 

Financial derivatives   
and employee stock option 

General government 

Other sectors 

All sectors 

MFIs* 

Central 
Bank 

Other 
DTC 

MMF 

General government* 

Other sectors* 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

38 

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
B.o.p. by institutional sector  

BSI net external assets   

Account 

Subaccount/ 
Functional 
category 

Other 
investment 

Financial 
instrument 

Institutional sector 

External assets 

External liabilities 

Currency and 
deposits, loans, 
SDRs allocations* 

MFIs 

Central 
Bank 

Other 
DTC 

MMF 

Currency and loans 

Currency / SDR 
allocation 

Deposits / loans 

General government 

Other sectors 

MFIs 

Central 
Bank 

Other 
DTC 

MMF 

General government 

Other sectors 

Trade credits and 
advances, other 
equity, insurance, 
pension schemes 
and standardised 
guarantee 
schemes, other 
account 
receivables and 
payables* 

Reserve assets  Monetary gold 

MFIs 

Central 
Bank 

Gold and gold 
receivables 

SDRs 

Reserve positions 
in the IMF 

Other reserve 
assets inc. financial 
derivatives 

Receivables from the 
IMF 

Loans/deposits/ 
securities 

Net errors and omissions 

(*) Breakdown only available on a quarterly basis. 

Limitations regarding the identification of MFI transactions vis-à-vis 
non-residents 

In BSI statistics, some MFI transactions vis-à-vis non-euro area residents are included 
under the other net assets (OA) counterpart instead of under the net external assets 
(NEA) counterpart. This is the case for items for which the geographical counterpart is 
not available, for example other accounts receivable and payable, or for those where 
the geographical counterpart has only become available quite recently and has some 
limitations, such as financial derivatives. 

Transactions in “other investment” instruments other than currency, deposits and 
loans, such as other accounts payable and receivable, insurance, pension and 
standardised-guarantee-scheme technical reserves, are relevant for assets and 
liabilities, but they usually net out. These instruments are generally included under 
other net assets M3 counterpart instead of under net external assets in BSI statistics. 
The size of transactions missing geographical information was reduced after 
implementing ECB Regulation ECB/2013/33. The different approaches taken by the 
two datasets cannot be reconciled in the monetary presentation framework as these 
instruments are aggregated with deposits and loans on a monthly basis in the b.o.p.; 
therefore, they cannot be allocated to the non-MFI sector (FANon-MFIs). As shown in 
Chart 4 under “other investment instruments”, transactions in these instruments are a 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

39 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
source of discrepancies between the two sets of statistics in terms of the definition of 
net external assets; however, the discrepancy tends to be small in the net cumulative 
figures for four quarters. 

The available data in b.o.p. statistics on transactions in financial derivatives by 
resident MFIs show that the figures are relatively small compared with the transactions 
of non-MFIs, as financial derivative transactions are driven by financial corporations 
other than MFIs. Therefore, the allocation of all transactions in financial derivatives to 
FANon-MFIs in the monetary presentation of the b.o.p. does not considerably hamper the 
economic analysis and avoids inconsistencies in the implementation of the common 
definition of net external assets in both datasets. See Annex 3 for further details. 

In the b.o.p., the net errors and omissions reflect the imbalances resulting from 
imperfections in source data and compilation practices. These may arise from 
financial or non-financial transactions, and they cannot be separated into MFI and 
non-MFI transactions. In order to develop the monetary presentation of the b.o.p., 
assuming the MFI sector is well covered, these net flows are included as mirror 
transactions of the MFIs, as shown in equation 4. 

Special classification of transactions in financial derivatives 

The information currently available in BSI statistics show large discrepancies with 
b.o.p. data, although the stocks are quite consistent with those reflected in the i.i.p. In 
general, it is considered that the quality of the transactions still has room for 
improvement in both sets of statistics. This is the case in particular for BSI statistics, 
where transactions are derived from stocks without an accurate estimation of price 
revaluations that would need more granular information, for example by type of 
financial derivative contract. Moreover, in b.o.p. statistics, the resident sector 
breakdown is only available on a quarterly basis. 

Chart A.1 shows that the relevance of transactions in financial derivatives for MFIs is 
much lower than that for non-MFIs in the euro area b.o.p. Taking all the drawbacks 
into consideration, as well as the empirical lack of relevance of the MFI transactions, 
all the b.o.p. transactions in financial derivatives are allocated to the non-MFI sector in 
the monetary presentation of the b.o.p. To a certain extent, this avoids inconsistencies 
with the BSI statistics, which do not include financial derivatives under the net external 
assets of the MFIs, and therefore makes the theoretical identity between the net 
external assets and MFI transactions recorded in the b.o.p. closer in practical terms. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

40 

 
 
Chart A.1 
Euro area balance of payments: financial derivatives (assets minus liabilities) 

(EUR billions; four-quarter cumulated) 

non-MFIs 

MFIS 

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

-20

-40

Dec-14

Jun-15

Dec-15

Jun-16

Dec-16

Jun-17

Dec-17

Jun-18

Dec-18

Jun-19

Source: ECB. 

Different assumptions regarding the holdings of euro banknotes 

In BSI statistics, all holdings of euro banknotes not held by euro area MFIs are 
included in M3 (and are therefore assumed to be held by the money-holding sector). 
The measurement of currency in circulation is a rather complex issue, particularly in 
monetary unions. Therefore, estimating the amount of currency in circulation outside 
the monetary union is very relevant but challenging. 

Foreign holdings of euro banknotes have been estimated in the euro area b.o.p. 
statistics since 2002. In April 2016, the estimation method was updated to better 
capture the recent empirical evidence gathered by several studies and statistical 
domains. The current estimations in the b.o.p. and i.i.p. are based on cumulative 
banknote shipments of high denomination banknotes, total banknotes and coins in 
circulation, and an assumption of the ratio of coins to banknotes in domestic 
circulation.32 

While the overall aim of the estimation is to reach a meaningful result in the euro area 
i.i.p., the corresponding transactions in the euro area b.o.p. reflect the overall trend in 
the stocks and there is much uncertainty regarding the actual month-on-month 
developments. 

32    For further details, please consult the Estimating of euro currency in circulation outside the euro area. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

41 

 
 
 
                                                                    
Other consistency issues between the b.o.p. and the consolidated 
MFI balance sheet with regard to practical implementation 

Based on Table A.3, most of the instruments have similar coverage and geographical 
availability in both sets of statistics. However, differences in compilation practices also 
give rise to differences between the transactions under net external assets in the two 
sets of statistics. 

As regards compilation practices, the b.o.p. transaction data for the MFI sector are, in 
some countries, reported directly by MFIs, while monetary statistics derive 
transactions from differences in stock, adjusted for write-offs, reclassifications, 
exchange rate changes and price revaluations. Although the two approaches should, 
in principle, deliver very similar results, there may be differences in practice as the 
derivation of transactions from differences in stock relies on certain approximations, 
e.g. that foreign exchange transactions during the month can be converted into euro 
by using the average exchange rate during the month. While such an approximation 
may be valid in general, it may not hold when significant oscillations in exchange rates 
occur during the month and the transactions are concentrated on certain days. 

Euro area b.o.p. and monetary statistics must be collected by different deadlines: 
b.o.p. data must be provided within 30 working days of the reference period, whereas 
monetary data must be reported within only 15 working days. This short time frame for 
the compilation of monetary data is one of the main reasons why the methodological 
framework for monetary statistics is largely based on balance sheet reporting, and 
therefore on business accounting rules, which in some cases deviate from statistical 
international standards. For example, securities transactions are reported according 
to the settlement date, which may be a few days after the actual contract date. The 
accounting framework also does not impute earnings not distributed within a group 
while the b.o.p. framework does in the context of foreign direct investment (FDI). 

In general, the b.o.p. statistics, which are collected later, and for which homogeneous 
rules have to be applied across various sources, tend to conform more with the 
statistical standards, e.g. regarding the valuation of some transactions or the definition 
of certain instruments. In addition, the differences in timing may lead to temporal 
discrepancies due to different data vintages, which tend to disappear over time. In 
Chart 4, the discrepancies resulting from the practical implementation of the statistical 
standards also include the different treatment of euro banknotes holdings. 

ECB Occasional Paper Series No 238 / February 2020 

42 

 
 
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Acknowledgements 
We would like to thank Isabella Bosetti, Tjeerd Jellema, Bettina Landau, Olga Monteiro, Lasse Nordquist, Martin Schmitz, Nuno Silva, 
João Sousa, Natacha Valla, Thomas Vlassopoulos and Caroline Willeke for their helpful comments and suggestions, as well as 
Anna-Camilla Drahonsky for very fruitful discussions. We are also grateful to Sarah Béchraoui-Quantin, Aura Ciacchi, Rocco Incardona, 
Eurico Ferreira, and for their excellent research assistance. 

Carmen Picón Aguilar 
European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; email: carmen.picon_aguilar@ecb.europa.eu 

Rodrigo Oliveira Soares 
European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; email: rodrigo.oliveira@ecb.europa.eu 

Ramón Adalid 
European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; email: ramon.adalid@ecb.europa.eu 

© European Central Bank, 2020 

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