On 1-2 March the International Conference on the Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS) organised jointly by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Banco de España, was held in Madrid. The initiative, launched first by the IMF as a pilot experience in 1997 and held since 2001 as an annual exercise, provides information, as at the last day of each year, on approximately 70 countries' holdings of portfolio investment assets. Free access to the data, which are compiled in accordance with accepted standards and broken down by instrument and counterpart country, can be had on the IMF's website (http://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/pi/cpis.htm).
The CPIS is a very useful instrument for monetary, economic and financial stability-related analysis, as well as for statistical production as it contributes to enhancing the quality of national and regional statistics and to reducing global asymmetries in portfolio investment data.