Circular BCL 2008/218 of 5 September 2008 — Adoption of the euro by Slovakia

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Luxembourg, 5 September 2008
To all collective investment schemes

CIRCULAR BCL 2008/218
Adoption of the euro by Slovakia

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the European Council meeting held in Brussels on 19 and 20 June 2008, the Heads of State and Government of the European Union decided that, effective 1 January 2009, Slovakia would adopt the single currency, the euro.

The purpose of this circular is to describe the impact of Slovakia's adoption of the euro on the preparation of monthly and quarterly statistical reports.

1. Impact on BCL statistical collection

1.1 Impact on monthly statistical collection

The monthly statistical report S 1.3 "Monthly statistical balance sheet of monetary collective investment schemes" requires a breakdown of assets and liabilities by the country of residence or registered office of the counterparty, i.e., the country in which the economic center of interest of the relevant counterparty is located, distinguishing the following four breakdowns:

• All countries: this class groups all operations regardless of the country of residence or registered office of the counterparty
• Luxembourg (LU)
• Other EMU Member States: i.e., the Other Member States of the Monetary Union

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• Rest of the world: i.e., countries that do not fall into the "Luxembourg" and "Other EMU Member States" categories

From 1 January 2009, the category "Other Member States of the Monetary Union" (Other EMU Member States) will also include Slovakia, which currently, until 31 December 2008 inclusive, falls under the category "Rest of the world".

Furthermore, monetary collective investment schemes are reminded that the inclusion of Slovakia under the category "Other EMU Member States" implies a more detailed sectoral breakdown of assets and liabilities towards counterparties residing in Slovakia. The details of this sectoral breakdown can be consulted in Annex 1 - S 1.3 "Monthly statistical balance sheet" (pp. 5 to 15 & 22 ff.) of Circular BCL 2002/171.

Monetary collective investment schemes are therefore invited to modify their reporting systems to include assets and liabilities towards a counterparty residing in Slovakia under the category "Other EMU Member States" while ensuring the appropriate sectoral breakdown is carried out.

1.2 Impact on quarterly statistical collection

1.2.1. Report S 2.13 "Quarterly statistical balance sheet of collective investment schemes"

The quarterly statistical report S 2.13 "Quarterly statistical balance sheet of collective investment schemes" requires a breakdown of assets and liabilities by the country of residence or registered office of the counterparty, identifying the country in question by a two-character ISO code.

However, since the breakdown of amounts is independent of whether a country belongs to the euro area or not, Slovakia's adoption of the euro has no impact on the preparation of report S 2.13 "Quarterly statistical balance sheet of collective investment schemes".

2. Quality of transmitted data

Collective investment schemes are reminded to ensure scrupulous identification of their counterparties and to use for this purpose, in particular, the official table of credit institutions published by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier as well as the official list of monetary financial institutions made available to reporting institutions on the website of the European Central Bank.

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We therefore consider it necessary to re-emphasize the importance of the quality of data transmitted to the BCL and the need to submit data subject to detailed verification rules in the technical documentation before transmission. Only rigorous control performed at the time of data production will allow meeting both quality requirements and imposed deadlines. This point is all the more important as the data thus collected will be checked by the ECB services before being aggregated with data from other Member States. Any significant error or negligence will have damaging repercussions on the reputation of the entire national financial community.

3. Entry into force of the new provisions

The new classification of assets and liabilities towards residents of Slovakia is to be carried out for the first time when preparing monthly statistical reports relating to the January 2009 period and when preparing quarterly statistical reports relating to the March 2009 period.

Please accept, Ladies and Gentlemen, the assurance of our most distinguished sentiments.

CENTRAL BANK OF LUXEMBOURG
The Management

Serge KOLB Andrée BILLON Yves MERSCH