for policy and analysis purposes. actually, we are coping well with the current challenges. in particular, not least due to the specific role we assign to money in our monetary policy strategy, i see a self - reinforcing bis central bankers ’ speeches virtuous circle in action. enhancements in monetary and financial statistics make it possible to keep track of financial innovation, thereby facilitating an enhanced monetary analysis and thus ensuring an effective policy decision - making process. the enhanced monetary analysis and its use in the policy - making process, in turn, identify necessary improvements to the statistics, thereby closing the circle. nevertheless, there is no reason to be complacent. important innovations in the financial sector will continue to occur. we thus need to invest in flexible tools and methods so as to further adapt our statistics and analysis to changes both in the financial sector and in its interaction with the real economy. in this respect, a better international standardisation in the reporting and registration of individual financial products, transactions and financial institutions will be crucial. the ecb is closely involved in discussions at the international monetary fund ( imf ) and the financial stability board ( fsb ). worldwide convergence and standardisation will allow a swift and flexible adaptation of monetary and financial statistics to financial innovation without creating an unnecessary reporting burden. we need to express data requirements in a more business - friendly way and we should be open to automation ( e. g. based on international financial reporting standards ( ifrs ) or supervisory reports ). another potential for improvement lies in the re - use of micro - data, such as credit registers, for statistical purposes. the processes initiated within the framework of the g20 initiatives on data gaps might also provide an adequate forum for the very important and complex work ahead of us. thank you very much for your attention. now, aurel schubert, the ecb ’ s director general statistics, will present more details on the four datasets and stand ready to answer your questions. bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches

. not least the frequently cited deficiencies of the greek statistical system ( with respect to both methodological and institutional aspects ) have reminded us of the importance of reliable, accurate and timely statistics for the functioning and credibility of our whole system. i am pleased that the new developments in monetary and financial statistics will contribute, in particular, to the research agenda of the ecb ’ s governing council for enhancing monetary analysis. as you know, the ecb attaches a high importance to this. last year, we published a comprehensive scientific compendium on the enhancement of monetary analysis, and i presented these results at a press briefing. 1 allow me to mention three key examples to illustrate the improvements the new data bring. see papademos, l. d. and stark, j. ( eds. ), enhancing monetary analysis, ecb, frankfurt am main, 2010. bis central bankers ’ speeches first, the new data will shed more light into the relatively opaque shadow banking. a major aspect of financial innovation is linked to the securitisation of financial assets by, in particular, the banking sector, and to the financial vehicles created outside the banking sector for this purpose. the lack of good statistical information on securitisation gained increasing relevance over the last decade and became particularly obvious in the financial crisis. in order to provide for a consistent monitoring of securitisation, the ecb has now introduced new quarterly balance sheet statistics that cover “ financial vehicle corporations engaged in securitisation ”. the aggregated total assets of such special - purpose vehicles in the euro area stood at €2. 3 trillion in the first quarter of 2011. this represents about one tenth of the total assets of all non - bank financial intermediaries. and together with the reporting of investment funds established in 2009, which also includes hedge funds, the ecb statistics now cover a large part of the shadow banking system within the euro area. in addition to balance sheet reporting for securitisation vehicles, a consistent monthly reporting by monetary and financial institutions ( mfis ) has also been developed. this makes it possible to assess how the securitisation of loans granted by mfis can actually have an impact on the growth rates of mfi lending to households and non - financial corporations. that is a step forward for our monetary analysis. to give you a concrete example : taking into account the impact of securitisation, the annual growth of mfi loans to non - financial corporations turned positive