Securities Statistics—An IMF, BIS and ECB Course

The analysis of high-quality securities data, together with monetary and financial statistics, is essential for understanding the evolution and structure of financial intermediation. The Handbook on Securities Statistics 2015 (HSS) supports such analysis by promoting improved data collection through well-defined concepts and harmonized presentation frameworks.

In this context, the IMF’s Financial Institutions Division of the Statistics Department, in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the European Central Bank (ECB), delivered a course on securities statistics at the JVI during February 23–27, 2026. A total of 26 officials from 24 countries participated in the course. It was designed to introduce participants to the methodology for their compilation, as set out in the HSS. Additionally, the course supported the ongoing efforts under the G20 Data Gap Initiative 2 (DGI-2) Recommendation 7 on total debt securities statistics as well as the more recent recommendation 4 of DGI-3 on climate finance.

Lectures covered definitions and features of securities; institutional units and sectors; accounting and valuation principles; presentation tables; security-by-security databases; compilation of securities statistics using security-by-security data; and the process of securitization. The course also included a hands-on workshop on the valuation and recording of debt securities, as well as practical exercises on classifying different types of debt securities, allowing participants to apply the theoretical concepts discussed. In addition, the program featured a session on methodological guidance for climate finance, with a particular focus on data reporting templates under DGI-3 Recommendation 4. The course also briefly addressed tokenization and emerging guidance on its treatment in macroeconomic statistics.

The critical role of securities markets in intermediating financial flows—both domestically and internationally—underscores the need for relevant, coherent, and internationally comparable statistics. This need was recognized under the G20 Data Gaps Initiative (DGI-1), launched in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis with the support of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, as well as the IMF’s International Monetary and Financial Committee.

Courses like this, run by key stakeholders, are an essential step in component in building capacity and supporting such initiatives. 

Jose Carlos Moreno-Ramirez, Short-term Monetary and Financial Statistics Expert, IMF