The business of financial corporations has undergone a structural transformation towards an increasing importance of portfolio management of financial assets with the aim of generating holding gains and a decreasing importance in simple intermediation. The definition of financial corporations and of financial services needs examining to ensure all the activities of financial corporations are adequately captured in the SNA. The review will also cover the easurement of production of financial services in volume terms.
The 1993 SNA recommends that the services of central banks be measured on the basis of receipts from fees, commissions, and financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM). This method sometimes results in unusually large positive or negative estimates of output. In 1995, the ISWGNA therefore decided to allow countries to measure the output of central banks, as a second best, at cost. However, the ISWGNA did not provide further guidance on the implications of this method. The review seeks to clarify the impact of the different roles that central banks perform on the nature of their output and the appropriate valuation and allocation to associate with the output of central banks. |
