Institutional Sector Accounts Non-Financial and Financial 2020

The balance sheet of the Monetary Financial Institutions sector (S.121+S.122+S.123) contracted during the period 2009-2013, where its assets fell by €759.5bn and its liabilities by €764.8bn. This trend was reversed in 2014, as financial assets and liabilities grew over their 2013 values. In 2020 the balance sheet continued to grow: the assets increased by 11.2% and the liabilities by 11.8% over the 2019 values.

The balance sheet of the non-Money Market Investment Funds sector (S.124) continued to grow during 2020. Figure 4.1 shows the change in contribution by S.124 to the overall size of the financial sector balance sheet. Aside from a drop in balance sheet size during 2008, relating to the financial crisis, the sector has exhibited continuous growth in the intervening period, where its financial assets have grown cumulatively by €2,822.2bn – an increase of 825.2%. This growth in the value of total assets has been significantly influenced by holding gains across a range of asset classes during this period.

The year-on-year percentage change in total liabilities of the financial sector is illustrated in Figure 4.2. The corresponding MIP Scoreboard threshold of 16.5% for this indicator is also shown in the same figure. The years leading up to 2009 saw positive growth largely dominated by the expansion of the balance sheet of the banking sector related to the housing boom. In the ensuing period of 2009-2013 there has been a deleveraging effect in the banking sector which has been offset by significant expansion of the investment funds sector. The marked reverse in trend during the period 2014-2020 has been caused by simultaneous growth in both the investment funds and financial intermediaries sectors. Here the data shows a year-on-year change of 19.5% in 2014 which is above the 16.5% MIP threshold. The subsequent year-on-year changes are below the MIP threshold, with a growth rate of 7.2% in 2020. These trends are also shown in the sector breakdown of Figure 4.3.

This year's publication also includes data in the current and capital non-financial accounts for subsectors of the financial corporations. There are three groups of subsectors: monetary financial institutions (S.121+S.122+S.123), financial intermediaries and funds (S.124+S.125+S.126+S.127), and insurance corporations and pension funds (S.128+S.129).