Excluding the Central Bank (S.121), the balance sheet of the other monetary financial institutions sector (S.122+S.123) contracted during the period 2009-2013, where its assets fell by €742.5bn and its liabilities by €752.6bn. During 2014 and 2015 this trend was reversed as financial assets in 2015 grew by 9.1 per cent and liabilities by 3.1 per cent over their 2013 values.

The balance sheet of the non-money market investment funds sector (S.124) continued to grow during 2015. Figure 10 also shows the change in contribution by S.124 to the overall size of the financial sector balance sheet. During 2015 this contribution increased in absolute terms while remaining unchanged in relative terms. Apart 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 €1,435.5bn – an increase of 419.7 per cent. 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 11. The corresponding MIP Scoreboard threshold of 16.5 per cent for this indicator is also shown in the same figure. The positive growth between 2005 and 2008 was 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 2014 and 2015 has been caused by simultaneous growth in both the banking and investment funds sectors. Here the new revised data shows a year-on-year change of 23.1 per cent in 2014, which is above the 16.5 percent MIP threshold. The year-on-year change of 9.5 per cent in 2015 is below the MIP threshold. These trends are also shown in Figure 12.