Frequently Asked Questions - Building Society reporting: General queries
This page is intended to help Building Societies with the transition of reporting directly to the Bank of England. The contents will be updated on an ongoing basis.
If you require any further assistance on this subject please contact us.
Other FAQ pages are available for:
- Data submission queries
- Form specific queries
- Form ER
- Form PL
Q. Why do Building Societies need to report statistical information to the Bank of England?
A. The Bank of England compiles and publishes a range of monetary and financial statistics. These statistics are derived from data supplied by monetary financial institutions (including banks and building societies). They are required by the Bank for monetary policy purposes and contribute to the UK national and financial account statistics, compiled and published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The Bank of England Act 1998 gives the Bank powers to obtain information, in Section 17 (for the Bank's monetary policy function) and Schedule 2 (for calculation of cash ratio deposits); the Bank of England (Information Powers) Order 1998, which came into force on 1 June 1998, specifies the types of financial affairs about which the Bank may require information under Section 17 of the Act. Full details of the act can be found here.
Q. When will Building Societies need to start reporting the Bank of England forms?
A. The transition to reporting Bank of England forms will take place with effect from 1st January 2008. After this date, the relevant Bank of England forms will need to be reported to the set deadlines and covering the correct period, for example the first end-month returns will be reported as at end-January 2008 data and the first end-quarter forms will be reported as at end-March 2008 data. The only exception to this is that we are asking all societies to report Form BT as at end-December 2007 data, in addition to their FSA forms, to allow adjustments to be made to data aggregates to reflect the change in form definitions.
Q. How does the Bank decide which forms each Society has to report?
A. There are set thresholdds for each form, the latest thresholds can be downloaded here. If you have any form specific questions please speak to the relevant person on the contact list show below.
Q. What are the reporting deadlines for Bank of England forms?
A. The reporting deadlines vary between form. These are generally given in working days, except for Forms PL, C1, CE, BG, HI and HO. For more information see the reporting schedules
Q. When will the ‘yellow folder’ be distributed to societies?
A. These should be sent out in September, but all details are available on the Bank’s website
Q. What are the reporting thresholds for forms MM and MQ?
A. All specialist mortgage lending subsidiary should report Form MQ. Form MM should be completed by those MQ reporters whose secured lending balances (MQ£18A) are greater than £100mn.
Q. Please give further information on 'UK non-bank subsidiaries which are effectively warehousing certain transactions' as mentioned in the General Notes and Definitions? Are these the same as, say, a subsidiary that handles specialist mortgage lending or loans to individuals?
A. These are really subsidiaries that act as part of the reporting institution, i.e. any counterparties dealing with the subsidiary would think they are dealing with the reporting institution. This would not refer to subsidiaries which operate in their own name undertaking their own business. It may be useful to look at the criteria for consolidation in the same section of the General Notes and Definitions as this explains the types of subsidiaries which could be consolidated.
Q. Should branches in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man be included within the reporting forms?
A. No. Channel Islands and Isle of Man are no longer considered to be part of the UK for statistical reporting. Therefore any branches in these countries, or other countries outside the UK should not be included in BoE reporting. Also, subsidiaries outside of the UK should not be included in Bank of England reporting forms. The only exception to this rule is for Form CE, which collects worldwide consolidated claims data. However, Form CE is not being introduced for building society reporting until 2009. Customers resident in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man should be classified as non-residents.
Q. Is residence based on the address of the underlying security (e.g. address of the property a loan is secured on) or on the address of the borrower?
A. The classification should be taken on the address of the person being lent to rather than anything the mortgage is secured on. For example, loans to a UK resident secured on a property abroad should be classified as loans to UK residents. For more information on sector categories, see Part III of the Classification of Accounts Guide.
Q. If reporting on an IFRS basis - 1) Where items are valued at fair value can this be used in the balance sheet? 2) Is it necessary to report accrued interest separately or can it be combined with the parent item?
A. 1) Fair value can be used for IFRS balance sheet reporting as the balance sheet to be reported at market value where possible. 2) Accrued interest should be reported separately as per the current reporting instructions. There is a potential exception to this noted in the definitions to item 35CA - Of which: on loans and advances. This item requests the amount of accrued interest payable under loans and advances (items 21B, 23D, 23H, 23K and item 29). Where this information is not readily available, estimates provided on a best endeavours basis, such as prorating by outstanding balances, will be acceptable. Interest on secured lending which is received monthly as part of a standard repayment schedule should be included within the value of the outstanding asset and not accrued here. More information on IFRS reporting issues can be found here.
Q. On a Footsie GCA account where no interest is payable until the end of a term would it still be classified as interest bearing?
A. As the instrument pays interest at some point, it should be classified as interest bearing.
Q. Who should I contact with any queries?
| General Issues | Pat O'Connor | 020 7601 4450 |
| Data Submission issues | Leslie Lambert | 020 7601 4544 |
| Cash Ratio Deposits | Sarah Waddington | 020 7601 5505 |
Individual Forms:
| BT, BE, Q1(D), QX, AD, AL, MM/MQ | Sue Docker | 020 7601 3236 |
| CA, CC, CL, CE, C1, DQ | Pat O'Connor | 020 7601 4450 |
| PL, BG, HI, HO | Martin Udy | 020 7601 4731 |
| ER | Mhairi Burnett | 020 7601 5479 |
