Monetary financial institutions and other monetary financial institutions

Certain headings of the balance sheets of monetary financial institutions according to the euro area returns, published in Chapter 8 of the Boletín Estadístico, were changed in December 2014 as a result of the entry into force of new accounting rules. These changes only affect the way in which part of the information is presented; they have no impact on the lending and deposits headings and they entail no change in equity in the institutions' balance sheets.

Specifically, the entry into force of Banco de España Circular 5/2014 of 28 November 2014, which amends Circular 4/2004 of 22 December 2004 on credit institutions' public and confidential financial reporting rules and formats and incorporates the statistical reporting requirements laid down by the European Central Bank¹, triggers a change in the way in which certain headings of the balance sheets according to the euro area returns are presented. This change means that, with the exception of data on loans and deposits which will continue to be reported at their principal amount, as from the December 2014 data, which are those now published, all the other headings will be reported at their carrying amount, in a further step towards harmonisation with the information reported for supervisory purposes. Accordingly, from December 2014, headings such as "Shares and other equity" on the asset side are reported net of their impairment allowances, and in turn these allowances are no longer carried over to the "Capital and reserves" heading as was the case previously (see Tables 8.2 and 8.3). This change explains the bulk of the variation seen in December 2014 in the size of the total balance sheet and of some of its components, such as "Shares and other equity" or "Capital and reserves".

¹ Regulation (EU) No 1071/2013 of the European Central Bank of 24 September 2013 concerning the balance sheet of the monetary financial institutions sector.