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Towards a common European business register. ECB presentation at the Business Registers Seminar Geneva, 18-19 June 2007. Overview. European statistics: a brief introduction Registers today: the background Towards a common European business register Main goals, advantages and challenges.
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Towards a common European business register ECB presentation at the Business Registers Seminar Geneva, 18-19 June 2007
Overview • European statistics: a brief introduction • Registers today: the background • Towards a common European business register • Main goals, advantages and challenges
European statistics • Memorandum of Understanding Eurostat/ECB - avoids gaps and overlaps • To perform its tasks, ECB uses mainly ESCB statistics and ESS statistics • Both Eurostat and the ECB cooperate intensively on statistical issues of common interest • Both ESCB and ESS have a close and fruitful dialogue in European fora: STC, CMFB, SPC, …
Registers today (I) • Registers currently used to produce ESCB statistics: • MFI List • ECB Sector Manual • MFI List - exhaustive register compiled jointly by all EU NCBs using modern technologies • Similar lists for Other Financial Intermediaries are under preparation
Registers today (II) • ECB Sector Manual: Used to classify counterparties to monetary transactions, by all ESA sectors • Based on (national) existing registers • Reveals a wide range of national lists published and maintained by different institutions • For efficiency reasons, respondents and compilers may favour a single national register e.g. as required by Business Registers Regulation
Registers today (III) • EuroGroups Register: ECB notes the importance and urgency of this project • ESCB involvement desirable in view of: • Interest in sharing the data • ESCB expertise with the financial sector • ECB invited to become a member of the Steering Group
Towards a common register (I) • Assess feasibility of combining registers (national registers, EuroGroups Register, ECB Sector Manual, MFI List, etc.) • Possibly a joint ESS/ESCB database system • Regular online updating by NSIs, NCBs, others • Well-defined governance structure (incl. distribution of tasks)
Towards a common register (II) • Well-defined quality management network • Maintenance should be done at national level, with a role for Eurostat and ECB in the case of multinationals • Available to respondents, statistical compilers and possibly other parties (if confidentiality is not an issue)
Main goals, advantages and challenges (I) • Reduce burden of respondents and costs of data collection • Enhance quality and consistency of European statistics • Modern technologies reduce the costs of and facilitate dealing with large files • Unique identifier allocation system may be a challenge
Main goals, advantages and challenges (II) • Different national confidentiality considerations may currently prove to be cumbersome • Alternative is progress in successive steps - e.g. first via database with links to national (diverse) registers • Goals, advantages and challenges to be discussed atEuropean level (CMFB)
Contact at the ECB • Thank you for your attention! • Alda Morais (alda.morais@ecb.int)