Publication of the "Provisional list of Monetary Financial Institutions of the accession countries" as at the end of December 2000

Frankfurt am Main, 19 October 2001

The European Central Bank (ECB) is today publishing the "Provisional list of Monetary Financial Institutions of the accession countries" (generally referred to as the "Provisional list"). This publication relates to the MFI sector of the accession countries as at the end of December 2000.

The aim of the "Provisional list" is to produce, for statistical purposes, a comprehensive and homogeneous list of Monetary Financial Institutions (MFIs) of the 12 countries that are currently preparing for membership of the European Union (Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia). In order to achieve a high degree of consistency and comparability of information, all countries contributing to the "Provisional list" have adhered to the ECB's harmonised definition of MFIs as far as this is possible within their statistical frameworks.

The "Provisional list" is seen as a particularly important initial step towards supporting the conceptual and practical harmonisation work necessary to prepare the compilation of monetary aggregates which are harmonised with euro area definitions. It follows the publication by the ECB in April 2001 of the "Money and banking statistics in accession countries: methodological manual".

The "Provisional list" can be downloaded from the "MFIs and assets" section of the ECB's website. Hard copies will be available from the accession country national central banks, from the EU national central banks and from the ECB.