The ECB maintains lists of the following three groups of institutions, based on information provided regularly by all members of the ESCB:
In compliance with its legal obligations, the ECB publishes these reference data on a regular basis, provided that the information is not confidential.
MFI
"Monetary financial institutions" (MFIs) are resident credit institutions as defined in Community law, and other resident financial institutions whose business is to receive deposits and/or close substitutes for deposits from entities other than MFIs and, for their own account (at least in economic terms), to grant credits and/or make investments in securities. Central banks as well as money market funds are also classified as MFIs, which formally consist of:
Credit institutions defined as any institution falling under the definition contained in the Banking Co-ordination Directive 2009/110/EC of 16 September 2009, whereby credit institution shall mean (a) an undertaking whose business is to receive deposits or other repayable funds from the public and to grant credits for its own account; or (b) an electronic money institution within the meaning of Directives 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC on the taking up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions.
The national central banks of the EU Member States and the European Central Bank.
Money market funds, which are defined as those collective investment undertakings of which the units are, in terms of liquidity, close substitutes for deposits and which primarily invest in money market instruments and/or in other transferable debt instruments with a residual maturity up to and including one year, and/or in bank deposits, and/or which pursue a rate of return that approaches the interest rates on money market instruments.
Other institutions, i.e. other resident financial institutions which fulfil the MFI definition, irrespective of the nature of their business.
In accordance with Regulation ECB/2008/32 of 19 December 2008 concerning the balance sheet of the monetary financial institutions sector, the ECB maintains and regularly updates a list of MFIs. (For the complete legal framework, see the link on the right-hand side.) The list of MFIs is drawn up and published:
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to facilitate the monitoring and production of a comprehensive and consistent balance sheet of the money-creating sector in the single currency area on the basis of an MFI population corresponding to sectors S121 and S122 of the European System of Accounts 1995 (ESA 95);
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to ensure that the statistical reporting population is complete and homogeneous;
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to provide for the production of a comprehensive and consistent list of those MFIs subject to – or exempt from – the Eurosystem‘s minimum reserve requirements;
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to ensure the production of a comprehensive and consistent list of counterparties eligible for Eurosystem operations.
The ECB releases updated information on the list of MFIs on a daily basis and updates to the list of MFIs subject to minimum reserves once a month. Downloads are available as delimited text files. Alternatively, user-defined queries can be performed directly via MFI data access facility on the ECB's website.
The latest data are available via the Statistical Data Warehouse (SDW).
In addition the following material is refreshed on a monthly basis:
IF
Investment funds
"Investment funds" (IFs) are collective investment undertakings that: i) invest in financial and non-financial assets, within the meaning of the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (ESA 95), to the extent that the objective is to invest capital raised from the public; and ii) are set up under Community or national law.
Included within the definition of IFs are: undertakings whose units or shares are, at the request of the holders, repurchased or redeemed directly or indirectly out of the undertaking’s assets; and undertakings which have a fixed number of issued shares and whose shareholders have to buy or sell existing shares when entering or leaving the fund.
Not included in the definition of IFs are pension funds and money market funds (which come under the MFIs
).
Information on IFs is collected:
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to provide the ECB with a comprehensive statistical picture of the financial activities of the IF sub-sector; and
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to ensure that the statistical reporting population on IFs is complete and homogeneous.
The legal framework for IFs is set out in Regulation (EC) No 958/2007 of the European Central Bank of 27 July 2007 concerning statistics on the assets and liabilities of investment funds (ECB/2007/8).
The ECB releases a quarterly update on the list of IFs (nine weeks after the end of the quarter to which the list refers).
FVC
Financial vehicle corporations
"Financial vehicle corporations" (FVCs) are undertakings set up under national or Community law which primarily:
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to carry out securitisation transactions and which are insulated from the risk of bankruptcy or any other default of the originator; and which
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issue securities, securitisation fund units, other debt instruments and/or financial derivatives and/or legally or economically own assets underlying the issue of securities, securitisation fund units, other debt instruments and/or financial derivatives that are offered for sale to the public or sold on the basis of private placements.
Neither MFIs (see first tab above) nor IFs (see second tab above) are included in the definition of FVCs.
"Securitisation" means a transaction or scheme whereby: i) an asset or pool of assets is transferred to an entity that is separate from the originator and is created for or serves the purpose of the securitisation; and/or ii) the credit risk of an asset or pool of assets, or part thereof, is transferred to those who invest in the securities, securitisation fund units, other debt instruments and/or financial derivatives issued by an entity that is separate from the originator and is created for or serves the purpose of the securitisation.
Information on FVCs is collected:
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to provide the ECB with a comprehensive statistical picture of the financial activities of the FVC sub-sector; and
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to ensure that the statistical reporting population on FVCs is complete and homogeneous.
The legal framework for FVCs is set out in Regulation (EC) No 24/2009 of the European Central Bank of 19 December 2008 concerning statistics on the assets and liabilities of financial vehicle corporations engaged in securitisation transactions (ECB/2008/30).
The ECB releases a quarterly update on the list of financial vehicle corporations (three weeks after the end of the quarter to which the list refers).
FAQ
- What is the difference between the list of monetary financial institutions and the list of monetary financial institutions and institutions subject to minimum reserves?
- The list of MFIs comprises the full MFI population of all the European Union Member States. Updates to the list of MFIs have been available on a daily basis on the ECB's website since 24 April 2006.
The list of MFIs and institutions subject to minimum reserves lists all MFIs resident in the EU. A sub-set of this list, namely credit institutions resident in the euro area that are subject to minimum reserves, are identified through the variable "reserve", indicated by "Yes". Updates to the list of MFIs and institutions subject to minimum reserves are available on a monthly basis.
Please go to Download dataset and download the data you need. As an alternative, you can subscribe to mailing lists.
- Where is the MFI ID code derived from?
- The MFI ID code is unique to each institution in the MFI list. Each central bank in the EU has to allocate a unique MFI ID code for every MFI resident in their territory they report to the ECB. The convention for the MFI ID code has been agreed on by the ECB and the NCBs. The code is alphanumerical, with the first two digits representing the two-digit ISO code for the country of residence of the MFI and the remaining number of digits (no limit has been specified) is any combination of alphanumerical characters.
- Does the MFI ID code have a legal basis or is it merely some kind of internal code that is used by the ECB?
- The MFI ID code convention has been set up and agreed on by the ECB and the NCBs. It is legally binding and is laid down in the Guideline of the European Central Bank of 30 July 2002 concerning certain statistical reporting requirements of the European Central Bank and the procedures for reporting by the national central banks of statistical information in the field of money and banking statistics (ECB/2002/5). Please refer to Annex IX, Appendix 1, Table 1. This document can be found on the ECB's website in the Legal documents section ( pdf 145 kB, en).
- Are mergers and acquisitions figures available on the ECB's website?
- Document on mergers and acquisitions is available on the ECB’s website: Mergers and acquisitions involving the EU banking industry - facts and implications (December 2000). However, specific information concerning such activity in the EU MFI sector is due to be published in the future. The following information will be provided on a monthly basis: registered names of involved institutions, ID codes (where applicable) and the corresponding dates of legal effect of all MFIs involved with other MFIs/non-MFIs in merger-related activity.
- Is there an alternative to the annual versions if I wish to receive the list of MFIs and institutions subject to minimum reserves?
- Please go to Download dataset and download the data you need. As an alternative, you can subscribe to mailing lists.
- Some of the items in the "Search the database" list boxes are selected by default. How do I deselect these options?
- Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the selected item at the same time.
- I cannot access 'Search the database' or the 'Download dataset' areas.
- One reason for this problem could be a temporary Internet overload. If this happens, please try again later.
- I cannot access the 'Download dataset' area even after trying repeatedly. I receive an error message: "Requested operation could not be performed by the proxy: unable to locate host mfi.ecb.int".
- This is a problem at the user’s site, as the user's proxy server cannot locate the ECB's website. This could be due to proxy misconfiguration or a problem with "https".
- The ECB has no plans to introduce this at present.
- I have subscribed to the mailing list, but our company's user service seems to have difficulties with the downloaded files. Can you tell me which file formats/types etc. are used for file transfers?
- Subscribed files are sent as an attachment in a compressed format (with the extension .gzip). Please refer to "How to download files" in the User guide to receive information about handling compressed files.
- I am having problems trying to subscribe to your mailing list files.
- One reason for this could be a mismatch between e-mail addresses. Please ensure that the confirmation e-mail address that you provided is identical to the e-mail address for the subscription. Instructions on subscribing to mailing lists can be found in the user guide.
- I subscribe to the mailing lists and receive monthly attachments via e-mail. However, I cannot open the attachments with the extension tgz.sig. Why not?
- The 2nd attachment, with the file extension tgz.sig, is the "PGP key". It certifies that the information comes from the ECB. The file carrying the information you requested is in the compressed "zip" format.
- The firewall has blocked some messages, suspecting that they contain a virus.
- The virus alarm has most probably been triggered by the "signature file" with the extension tgz.sig. The ECB uses the latest version of Sophos Anti-Virus detection software to ensure that its files are clean. You can also download the information directly from our website.
- When accessing a website I receive an error message stating that a "security violation" might take place – I cannot then gain access.
- The MFI website is a secure web server. Security is achieved by using https as a communication protocol and the problem might be related to settings at the user site which disable https communication. Please ask your local IT support about this and/or consult your company internet policy.
- When receiving data from your website, we also get: "The message contained attachments which by size or type are not allowed. These attachments were detached for security reasons". What does this mean?
- The ECB sends files with the extension .tgz as attachments. To receive this type of attachment, your security settings will probably need to be changed.
- Could you let me have the software required to unzip compressed files and instructions?
- We provide files in a compressed format (.gzip) and in an uncompressed format (.txt) for a manual download. Downloading instructions and the location of unzipping software can be found in the User guide.
- Will the standard e-mail be in the same format as the text file or will it be zipped and include headers?
- The e-mail contains zipped files and a PGP (pretty good privacy) signature.
- Where can I find legal information about MFIs?
- Legal Framework
