Select type :
Scope
Data presentation - Summary description

These statistics refer to the assets and liabilities of euro area insurance corporations and pension funds (ICPFs), covering both outstanding amounts and transactions for selected key series on insurance technical reserves. In general, the statistics refer to non-consolidated data, based on the host-approach and at market value (with the exception of deposits and loans, which are at nominal value).

Data presentation - Detailed description

This dataset presents statistics on the assets and liabilities of euro area insurance corporations and pension funds (ICPFs) (as defined in ESA 95).

National Central Banks (NCBs) provide data on a "best effort" basis, as they are not legally obliged to report by any Regulation (short-term approach).

These statistics are available as from the first quarter of 2008.

Reference area coverage

Euro area

Sector coverage

Insurance corporations and pension funds (as defined in ESA 95). In addition to statistics on the assets and liabilities of all ICPFs aggregated for the sector as a whole, separate statistics on the balance sheets of insurance corporations (ICs) and pension funds (PFs) are also available on a quarterly basis.

Time coverage

First reporting of quarterly data on the first quarter of 2008. Annual data dates back to 2008.

Methodological information
Source data type

In the context of the short-term approach, euro area national central banks collect data from available data sources (e.g. supervisory authorities or statistic datasets).

Time period

Quarterly and annually

Time period - collection

End of period

Frequency of data collection

Quarterly and annually

Statistical concepts and definitions

For information about the naming convention (series key dimensions and metadata), refer to the ICPF underlying DSD (ESTAT_ESAIEA) maintained by the EUROSTAT.

Statistical unit

Balance sheet items of euro area insurance corporations and pension funds.

Accounting conventions

The main national data sources are existing supervisory collection systems, complemented with other existing NCB datasets such as data from monetary financial institutions (MFIs), securities issues statistics, balance of payments statistics, or, in some cases, existing direct reporting by ICPFs and estimates made for the national financial accounts. Owing to this nature, the statistics are standardised across euro area countries, but not fully harmonised.

Statistical processing
Data compilation

Data are aggregated across the ICPF sector in each Member State by NCBs to derive national contributions to the euro area aggregated balance sheet of the ICPF sector. 

 

All growth rate computations refer to an index of notional stocks, rather than to the stock data directly. This allows to present developments in the series free of the effects that non-transactions would have on the growth rate of stocks. The index of notional stocks is computed as a chain index I(t) = I(t-1)*[1+F(t)/S(t-1)], where F(t) are transactions during the period and S(t-1) are stocks at the end of the previous period. The index is computed in a way similar to that used in monetary financial institutions (MFI) statistics, on which more information is available in the  Technical Notes  to the Euro area statistics section of the ECB Statistical Bulletin.

Adjustment

Not adjusted

Data validation

Validation is based on the verification of balance sheet constraints, and on checks on the plausibility of developments at various levels of aggregation.

Data revision - policy

The revisions policy and procedures set by the ECB and the relevant NCB must be followed

Administrative Information
Title

Insurance Corporations & Pension Funds Statistics

Data source

National central banks (NCBs) and ECB

Quality
Quality management

Quality is ensured by means of a comprehensive legal framework included in the Guideline ECB/2014/15 on monetary and financial statistics (recast).

Accuracy

Minimum standards for accuracy:

(a) the statistical information must be correct: all linear constraints must be fulfilled (e.g. assets and liabilities must balance, subtotals must add up to totals);

(b) reporting agents must be able to provide information on the developments implied by the transmitted data;

(c) the statistical information must be complete and must not contain continuous and structural gaps; existing gaps should be acknowledged, explained to the relevant NCB and, where applicable, bridged as soon as possible;

(d) reporting agents must follow the dimensions, rounding policy and decimals set by the relevant NCB for the technical transmission of the data.

Dissemination
Release policy

Publication approximately 14 weeks after the reference period. Euro area ICPF aggregates are published at a quarterly frequency, except certain detailed breakdowns which are only shown at an annual frequency. National aggregates are published at an annual frequency.

Dissemination format

Statistical Data Warehouse (SDW) and ECB website

Dissemination format - news release

Press Release on the ECB website

Technical Information
Catalog

Download the series catalogue containing a full list of series and associated metadata of the dataset ICPF in CSV format (zipped)

Dataset last update
28 February 2017 10:00 CET
Miscellaneous
Metadata last update
10 November 2022 11:04 CET