Financial Institutions (Annual Statistics for)

NAME OF ORGANISATION
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

OVERVIEW
The annual statistics for financial institutions provide detailed income and expenditure data for selected non-bank financial institutions which fall under the provisions of the Financial Corporations Act (1974) (FCA). (see the Scope and Coverage Section for details). For building societies, credit unions and co-operative housing societies, the statistics are obtained directly by the relevant regulatory or supervisory bodies. Some balance sheet items are also published for these institutions. For other institutions, the ABS collects the statistics directly.

PURPOSE
The National Accounts within the ABS are the primary user of these statistics. The ABS uses the annual data to derive income and expenditure benchmarks which ulitmately contribute to the quarterly National Accounts. The income estimates currently feed into the compilation of Financial Intermediation Services Indirectly Measured (FISIM), part of the implementation of the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA93).

SCOPE
The scope of the survey is Permanant Building Societies, Credit Unions, and those financial institutions registered as
Financial Corporations Act (1974) (the FCA) institutions with the Reserve Bank of Australian, under categories D (Money Market Coroporations), F (Finance Companies) and G (General Financiers). All companies which would otherwise be subject to the FCA, but have received special exemption from the RBA are not covered by the collections (generally, these are organisations are negligible contributors of financial intermediation services). In addition, Co-Operative Housing Societies are in the scope of the survey.

The survey's direct collection relates only to FCA institutions with categories D, F and G of the survey population, with information on Permanent Building Societies and Credit Unions provided by Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), and information on Co-Operative Housing Societies is supplied by relevant state regulatory bodies.

DATA DETAIL

Conceptual framework
The survey seeks to measure income and expenditure for selected non-bank financial institutions. The survey population is Permanant Building Societies, Credit Unions, and those financial institutions registered as Financial Corporations Act (1974) (the FCA) with the Reserve Bank of Australian, under categories D (Money Market Coroporations), F (Finance Companies) and G (General Financiers).

Companies which are subject to FCA legislation may be exempted from requirements of the FCA by the Reserve Bank, These institutions are not covered in the survey. Exemptions are generally only granted by the RBA where the institution's contribution as a financial intermediary is negligible.

Co-Operative Housing Societies are in the scope of the survey, with their information collected from relevant regulatory bodies.

The survey's direct collection relates only to FCA institutions with categories D, F and G of the survey population, with information on Permanent Building Societies and Credit Unions provided by Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).

Main outputs
The main outputs are:

Income flows, with the counterparty to the transactions identified for interest income and share dividend income.
Expenditure flows, with the counterparty to interest expense flows.

Appropriation Account information.

Classifications
Category of financial institution, as classified by the Reserve Bank of Australia. Additionally, an abridged version of the SISCA Classification for use in the counterparty questions has been employed.

Other concepts (summary)


GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
Australia

Comments and/or Other Regions
Some state data are available for permanent building societies, credit unions and co-operative housing societies where the information is supplied as administrative by-product data.

COLLECTION FREQUENCY
Annually

Frequency comments


COLLECTION HISTORY
The annual balance sheet survey of institutions under the Financial Corporations Act (FCA) has been in existence for some years. The annual estimates were identified as a continuing need by the Working Group on Rationalisation of Financial Statistics in the late 1980s. During April to August 1999, a long-needed review was undertaken which significantly altered the vehicle for the annual collection. This new vehicle no longer requires balance sheet data, with users satisfied with the Reserve Bank's collection of this information. Hence, the Annual Statistics for Financial Institutions Collection collects data only for income and expense flows with an increased emphasis on counterparty information.

DATA AVAILABILITY
Yes