Content
About the statistics
Definitions
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Name and topic
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Name: Financial corporations, balance sheet
Topic: Banking and financial markets
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Responsible division
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Division for Financial Markets Statistics
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Definitions of the main concepts and variables
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Balance sheet
The balance sheet shows assets, liabilities and equity at the end of the accounting period. The most important balance sheet items are presented by sector.
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, a number of new mortgage companies have been established. As a result, lending portfolios have been swapped between banks and mortgage companies.
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Standard classifications
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There are four types of classifications: object/instrument, sector, industry and type.
Finance objects and real objects (instruments)
Liabilities, claims and other assets in banks and financial corporations' balance sheets are divided into main equable groups, for example loans, bank deposits, bonds, shares etc.
Debitor and creditor sector
Borrowers and lenders are classified by institutional sector classification based on the national accounts' regulations. See our pages for the reporting insttitutions;
http://www.ssb.no/a/innrapportering/orbof/
Debitor and creditor industry
Based on regulations in the industry standard, loans and deposits are grouped according to which industry the debitor or creditor belongs to. See our pages for the reporting insttitutions;
http://www.ssb.no/a/innrapportering/orbof/
Income and cost types
Income and cost types are based on regulations for the national accounts. Examples of income and cost types are interest income and interest costs.
Administrative information
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Regional level
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The whole country
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Frequency and timeliness
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The statistics is published monthly, normally 5 weeks after the end of the month.
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International reporting
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Reporting to the BIS, Eurostat, the IMF and the OECD.
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Microdata
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Not relevant
Background
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Background and purpose
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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 statistics production is done by Statistics Norway from 1. January 2007.
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Users and applications
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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. Other important users 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.
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Coherence with other statistics
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The statistics are based on the guidelines in the national accounts standards System of National Accounts from 1993 (SNA 1993), European System of Accounts from 1995 (ESA 1995) 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.
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Legal authority
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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 The Central Bank of Norway (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).
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EEA reference
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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 58/97 The regulation specifies separate appendices for insurance, banks and other mortgage companies, as well as pension funds as part of the regulation on structured statistics for commercial corporations. The objective is to establish a common framework for the collection, processing and procurement of statistics with regard to structure, the competitive situation and efficiency.
Council regulation 2223/96 The regulation covers the European system for national and regional accounts.
Council regulation 1392/2007 Amendments to council regulation 2223/96Council regulation 1606/2002 Regulation on the application of international accounting standards
Council regulation 297/2008 Amendments to council regulation 1606/2002
Production
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Population
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The financial statistics is based on balance sheet and profit and loss account data from Norges Bank, all banks, state lending institutions, the mortgage companies and the finance companies in Norway, including foreign companies' branches in Norway. Consolidated data is also available, but is not used for national statistics purposes.
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Data sources and sampling
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The data is based on reconciliated accounting data from the financial institutions.
Total count.
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Collection of data, editing and estimations
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The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway and Statistics Norway work together to collect the accounting data. The data is submitted either via data processing centres or individually. All data is reported electronically via the official Norwegian portal Altinn linked to the input data system OrbofInn . The accounting data are checked at the Altinn portal and are validated in Statistics Norway, and error messaged are returned automatically to the reporting financial enterprises.
The control and revision of accounting data are undertaken by Statistics Norway and the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway. A range of controls are carried out on the accounting data and receipts with the results are automatically sent to the reporting parties via e-mail / and a message system at Altinn and the input data system. Consistency controls and controls against other data sources are also carried out and results are submitted to the financial institutions.
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Confidentiality
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Not relevant
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Comparability over time and space
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The accounting statistics for the 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 like new companies, mergers and spin-offs, and portfolio movements, may also lead to breaches in the time series.
International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS)
The new accounting standard IFRS is an example of a change that has causedbreaches in the time series. From 2009 the reporting companies may report according to the IFRS standard and other entities may follow NGAAP. The IFRS standard will lead to larger fluctuations in the data because of the more extensive use of fair value in the accounting. The comparison of the reported data with the companies' official accounts is also challenging when the IFRS standard does not require a specific presentation of the accounts, as the traditional Norwegian accounting standards do.Regulation on loans
The IFRS-adapted regulation on loans was introduced 1. January 2005. It lead 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 were also a breach in the time series on loans in 1992 due to changed accounting rules.Changes in the presentation of the statistics
Data specifications are updated continuously. An example of changes in data series is Credit lines secured on dwellings became a new specification from January 2006 and was partly deducted from repayment loans secured on dwellings.Structural changes
There are several mergers, spin-offs and new companies being started 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.Portfolio movements
The introduction of IFRS, the regulation on loans and the structural changes mentioned, has lead to portfolio movements. Following the covered bonds legislation in Norway from 2008 on loan portfolios have been moved from banks to mortgage companies. This gives breaches in the time series and needs to be taken into consideration when interpreting the data.
Accuracy and reliability
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Sources of error and uncertainty
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Errors and discrepancies can occur in the accounting data. These discrepancies can have a number of sources:
*Errors in the reporting party's accounts
*Errors in the transfer of data from the institution's primary accounts to data reports and to recipients
*Different accounting and evaluation principles
*Different accounting dates for transactions
*Insufficient data from the reporting parties
*Processing errors
Due to large amounts of data and a dynamic control and revision system, published data will be regarded as preliminary until next years data for the same period is published. This means that data for the current year may be revised without this being marked in the preceeding publishing. Large and important revision however, will be commented upon in the publishing of Today's Statistics.
The statistics is now published as Banks and mortgage companies.