The Bank of Finland's mandate for the collection of data is based on Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/1998 (as amended by Regulation 951/2009) concerning the collection of statistical information by the European Central Bank, and on the Act on the Bank of Finland (214/1998, section 28). The Bank of Finland, Financial Supervisory Authority and Statistics Finland collaborate in a permanent cooperation group known as 'Virati', aimed at defining data collection and common concepts relating to statistical reporting by credit institutions to authorities.
Data is collected from monetary financial institutions (MFIs) for the purposes of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), to meet statistical needs of international organisations and for national purposes. Collection of statistical data from MFIs is based on ECB regulation concerning the balance sheet of the monetary financial institution sector (ECB/2008/32) and ECB regulation concerning statistics on interest rates (ECB/2001/18, as amended by ECB/2004/21, ECB/2009/7 and ECB/2010/7). The statistical requirements are also regulated by ECB guideline on monetary, financial institutions and markets statistics (ECB/2007/9, as amended by ECB/2008/31 and ECB/2009/23), ECB guideline concerning balance of payments (ECB/2004/15, as amended by ECB/2007/3) and guidelines of the Bank for International settlements (BIS) of December 2008.
The MFI balance sheet statistics compiled and issued by the Bank of Finland consist of data collected from monetary financial institutions operating in Finland. MFIs comprise the Bank of Finland, deposit banks, other credit institutions and money market funds.
Compilation of investment fund statistics is based on ECB regulation concerning statistics on the assets and liabilities of investment funds (ECB/2007/8). The data is collected from investment funds registered in Finland. Although money market funds are, in the statistics, classified as MFIs, data on these is collected with the same survey as data on other investment funds.
For compiling balance of payments statistics, the Bank of Finland collects data on foreign assets and liabilities from selected reporting agents. In compiling balance of payments statistics, the Bank of Finland adheres to ECB guideline ECB/2004/15 (as amended by ECB/2007/3) and regulation (EC) No 184/2005 (as amended by regulation 707/2009) of the European Parliament and of the Council.
The reporting population for balance of payments statistics consists of enterprises, financial and insurance institutions, the general government and, indirectly, of households. The Bank of Finland draws samples on the reporting population on statistical grounds. Data is collected monthly or annually depending on the magnitude of the reporting agent's foreign assets and liabilities as well as on investment type.