The ECB requires quarterly financial and non-financial accounts for the euro area. The financial accounts present financial transactions as well as financial balance sheets for all economic sectors in the euro area. They therefore show the financial interrelationships among these different sectors and between them and the rest of the world. They enable monetary aggregates to be linked to the short-term financial investment of the money holding sectors in the euro area.

The accounts follow the integrated approach outlined in the European system of national and regional accounts (ESA 95). Based on harmonised accounting principles, quarterly euro area financial accounts are also very useful for cross-checking the consistency of the high-frequency data provided by money and banking, balance of payments, capital market, and government finance statistics. Of specific importance are the interactions between, on the one hand, the financial and non-financial transactions and, on the other hand, balancing items such as saving, government deficit and gross domestic product.

At present, quarterly data on financial transactions and amounts outstanding for the non-financial sectors and for insurance corporations and pension funds are published in the tables on investment and financing in the ECB’s Monthly Bulletin. Work is in progress to provide more detail by sector and by financial instrument, and to compile integrated quarterly financial and non-financial sector accounts for the euro area.

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