Banks and mortgage companies, Q1 2020

The whole country

The monthly balance sheet statistics is published 5 weeks after the reporting period. The profit and loss account is published 8 weeks after the reporting period. Yearly aggregated loans and deposits by county are published 6 months after the reporting period.

Reporting to the BIS, Eurostat, the IMF and the OECD.

Not relevant

The reporting procedure is made in collaboration between the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway, Norges Bank and Statistics Norway. The data from banks and financial corporations form the basis for the supervision of the institutions and the financial markets. The data is also an information base for the monetary and credit market policy and a vital contribution to the statistics for credit indicators and monetary growth. The reporting is the main base for the official statistics on financial enterprises. It is also an important input in the national accounts and the balance of payments and the credit market statistics. The data is used for international reporting to the BIS, Eurostat, the IMF and the OECD etc.

The main area of application is statistics (publishing and input in other statistics), analysis and supervision (by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway). The data is included in the national accounts, financial sector accounts and the balance of payments. Important users other than Statistics Norway are Norges Bank, the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway, Ministry of Finance, the financial services industry, researchers at universities and in international organisations, and the media.

Not relevant

The statistics are based on the guidelines in the national accounts standards System of National Accounts from 2008 (SNA 2008), European System of Accounts from 2010 (ESA 2010) and the IMF Manual on Monetary and Financial Statistics.
Statistics from the financial institutions are used in the national accounts, financial sector accounts, the balance of payments and in the Norwegian statistics of foreign debt and receivables.

The main part of the data covered here is collected under the provisions of the Act on the Supervision of Credit Institutions, Insurance Companies and Securities Trading etc. (Financial Supervision Act) of 7 December 1956 no. 1 (with amendments per 1 July 2003). Reporting from Norges Bank and from state lending institutions is obtained under the provisions of the Act concerning official statistics and Statistics Norway of 16 June 1989 no. 54 (the Statistics Act).

Council directive 635/86 Accounting directive for banks and other credit institutions.

Council directive 2006/48/EF Supervisory directive relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions

Council regulation 295/2008. Council regulation 251/2009 Amendments to council regulation 295/2008.

Council regulation 2223/96 The regulation covers the European system for national and regional accounts.
Council regulation 1392/2007 Amendments to council regulation 2223/96.

Council regulation 1606/2002 Regulation on the application of international accounting standards
Council regulation 297/2008 Amendments to council regulation 1606/2002

The financial statistics is based on balance sheet and profit and loss account data from Norges Bank, all banks, state lending institutions, mortgage companies and financial companies in Norway, including foreign companies' branches in Norway.

The data is based on reconciliated accounting data from financial institutions.

The accounting statistics are based on the total count.

The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway and Statistics Norway work together to collect the accounting data. All data is reported electronically via the official Norwegian portal Altinn. The reporting institutions receive automatic feedback on errors or possible errors in the reporting. These errors should be corrected within two days. After Statistics Norway complete to process the data, the reporting institutions may be asked to control, verify or correct other data not included in the automatic feedback. Corrections from the reporting institutions are received continuously.

Not relevant

Not relevant

• Statistical releases older than 3 April 2017
• Older tables for financial corporations, balance sheet, last updated April 2010
• Previous tables - Financial corporations, accounts, last updated 1st Quarter 2010

Amendments to the Accounting Act and regulations
The accounting statistics for financial institutions is based on current accounting regulations for financial institutions. Breaches may therefore occur in connection with changes in accounting legislation and in the regulations applicable to the financial institutions.

Structural changes in the financial sector
There are several new companies, acquisitions, mergers, spin-offs, reclassifications and portfolio movements every year. Many of these structural changes have no significant impact on the statistics, while others lead to breaches in the time series. Major changes will be commented upon in the current statistics publication.

Regulation on loans
The IFRS-adapted regulation on loans was introduced 1. January 2005. Which led to a small change in the measuring of the value of loans and guaranties in the accounting data and thereby to a small breach in the time series for loans and loan loss provisions. There was also a breach in the time series on loans in 1992 due to changes in accounting rules.

Changes in the presentation of the statistics
Data specifications are updated continuously. An example of changes in data series is that Credit lines secured on dwellings became a new specification from January 2006 and was partly deducted from repayment loans secured on dwellings.

Norwegian covered bonds
Covered bonds are bonds conferring a preferential claim over a cover pool consisting of public sector loans and loans secured on dwellings or other real property. Only mortgage companies with special authorisation can issue covered bonds in Norway, and these bonds have been issued since June 2007.

On 24 October 2008, the Norwegian Parliament granted the Ministry of Finance the authority to put into effect an arrangement where Norwegian banks could “swap” covered bonds with treasury bills. This “swap agreement” was aimed at reducing the negative effects of the financial crisis. The banks can acquire covered bonds either in the market or directly from mortgage companies that are licensed to issue covered bonds. Since the announcement of this offer by the Norwegian government, several new mortgage companies have been established. As a result, lending portfolios have been swapped between banks and mortgage companies.

New specification on industries
In May 2009, a new Norwegian standard for industries were introduced in the financial statistics. This change increased the possibilities to track the development in loans for important individual industries. It also led to breaches in time series for loans by industry. This makes comparison of loans by industry difficult in the period before and after May 2009 on monthly basis, and before and after May 2010 on yearly basis for several industries.

New institutional grouping of sectors
From January 2012, a new Norwegian standard for institutional grouping of sectors were made in line with revised international standards, which Norway is obliged to follow. From March 2012 onwards, this led to breaches in the accounting statistics for banks and financial institutions.

Some companies that were classified as non-financial institutions are now classified as financial institutions. Loan to these institutions should no longer be allocated between different industries and are no longer included in the statistics for loans by industry. The industry for professional and financial services is particularly affected, since many of the institutions that were included earlier, have been moved from non-financial institutions to financial institutions.

New specifications of deposits
As of April 2015, new deposit specifications were introduced in the balance sheet reporting. Some deposit series from the periods prior to April 2015 are therefore not comparable with later periods. See this article for more information: https://www.ssb.no/bank-og-finansmarked/artikler-og-publikasjoner/pengemengdestatistikken. 

Customisation of reporting from banks and finance companies (ORBOF) to international accounting standards (IFRS 9)
From January 2018 onwards, there has been completed a large restructuration of the reporting that is the basis for this statistic. This was an extensive restructuration and implied change of definitions in the reported data, which affected both the balance sheet and the profit and loss account. It also led to changes in the scope of some objects in the reporting. Due to the new reporting standard, there are breaches in some time series that makes it challenging to compare data before and after January 2018. See this article for more information: https://www.ssb.no/bank-og-finansmarked/omlegging-av-bankstatistikken