Bankstats article
By Iván Castro, Goncalo Bret and Luke Meakins
The Bank of England currently collects and publishes data on non-resident activity from UK Monetary Financial Institutions (MFIs) sourced from several reporting forms. As part of a recent internal review, the Bank evaluated the operational value of the Form BN dataset against the costs of duplicative data collection.
The Bank has a commitment to assess the operational cost and benefits of its data collections, in line with the Statistical Code of Practice (PDF). The internal review found that the operational costs of collecting, quality-assuring and publishing the Form BN non-resident dataset outweigh the benefits it provides. It also concluded that sufficient information on non-resident activity is already captured through Forms CC and CL, which may make the continued collection of Form BN unnecessary. As a result, the Bank is considering whether to discontinue Form BN data collection.
Non-Resident dataset (Form BN)
Currently, UK MFIs’ non-resident activity is collected and published by the Bank on a monthly basis. The data is sourced from Form BN, which is reported by a group of eligible UK MFIs. The data is published on the Bank of England’s interactive database (IADB).
Following the recent review, the Bank is proposing to discontinue both the collection and publication of new data from Form BN on the IADB. If confirmed, the current proposed final reference period would be for April 2026 data, with publication scheduled for May 2026.
The impacted data series are found within Table B2.5.1 covering MFIs (excluding central bank) further sectoral breakdown of non-resident business. See Annex A of the full article for further details on the published series to be discontinued.
Alternative sources of non-resident data (Form CC and CL)
The Bank of England will continue the collection of UK MFIs non-resident data via other forms, specifically Forms CC and CL, on a quarterly basis. Whilst this data is not a direct substitute to the data collected in Form BN, Forms CC and CL provide a sufficiently detailed picture of UK MFIs non-resident activity to meet current analytical needs. See Annex B of the full article for a comparison between the datasets.
Next steps
Reporting MFIs and users of non-resident data are invited to comment on any aspect of this proposal by 31 December 2025. The Bank is particularly interested in feedback regarding the potential impact of excluding Form BN data from the published output of UK MFIs non-resident activity. Any comments should be addressed to DSD-MCG-BalanceSheets@bankofengland.co.uk with email subject title: Form BN Consultation Feedback
It would be helpful if you can include the following in your response:
- The firm or organisation you represent
- Whether you are a user of Form BN non-resident data or a reporting Monetary Financial Institution of Form BN
- Your current use cases for Form BN data
- Your feedback on the proposal to discontinue the collection of Form BN.
Privacy notice
By emailing your comments, the Bank of England (‘we’ or the ‘Bank’) collects personal data about you. This information includes contact details such as your name, email address, professional information such as your job title name of organisation, whether you are a contributor or user of form BN data, and your opinions.
Why we need your personal data
Information collected in the form of your opinions will be used to assess whether we can discontinue the collection and publishing of Form BN data.
We will review your response and capture your opinions on our consultation. Your personal data will not be shared or used for any other purposes. Once the consultation period is over, we will publish an anonymised Bankstats article summarising the responses.
Our lawful basis for processing this data is necessary for the performance of tasks carried out in the public interest, which includes collecting data from financial firms and publishing statistics on the monetary and financial system which are relevant to our policy and regulatory responsibilities. To find out more about the Bank’s statistical collections function please visit Statistical Reporting.
How we store your personal data
We will keep your personal data on secure Bank servers with controlled access for the duration of the consultation period after which it will be securely disposed.
Your privacy rights
You have a number of rights under data protection laws. To contact us about your privacy rights, or to find out more about how the Bank protects the privacy of the individuals whose data we process and to contact the Bank’s Data Protection Officer, please see Privacy and the Bank of England.
Bankstats article - Changes to the collection and publication of data on the further sectoral breakdown of non-resident business