Data are available quarterly from 1963 Q1 and monthly from October 1997. These data are available not seasonally adjusted and seasonally adjusted.
We usually publish data on the twenty-first working day following the end of the reporting period in the Money and Credit statistical release and in Sectoral analysis of M4 (Table A4.1) and Sectoral analysis of M4 lending (Table A4.3) in the Database.
Additional sectoral detail data is provided through two main sources:
A sample of UK-resident banks report data directly to us on Form BE. Around 100 banks with private sector holdings (Form BT items £2H and £3H or £29D) in excess of £1 billion report data on a monthly basis. Reporters of forms IC, IO and IS are also required to report the BE form. All data are reported in sterling, with foreign currency data converted to sterling at the middle spot sterling exchange rate at 4pm on the last working day of the month.
From January 2008, data from building societies are collected on the same basis as for UK-resident banks, on the forms BT and BE on a monthly basis (see Statistics article 'Transition of building society statistical reporting'). Before this, data for building societies were collected by the Financial Services Authority. These figures were based on a sample of societies, which were grossed up to achieve full coverage of the building society population in the published data.
All data are subject to revision if and when new information becomes available. For more information on revisions practices see further details about revisions.
Since September 2011, other financial corporations’ (OFCs’) holdings of M4 have included 35% of the sterling inter-MFI difference, whereas an additional 35% of the sterling inter-MFI difference is deducted from OFC loans. For further details see Statistics article ‘Estimation and allocation methods within money and credit data’. Since February 2014, the inter-MFI difference allocated to OFCs has been apportioned further, with 60% allocated to intermediate OFCs (IOFCs) and 40% to non-intermediate OFCs (NIOFCs). Before September 2011, 95% of the domestic sterling interbank (now inter-MFI) difference was allocated to OFCs’ holdings of M4. This followed a review of its causes (see UK article on allocations in M4, June 1992 Economic Trends available from the Office for National Statistics).
Other financial corporations (OFCs) are private financial corporations other than monetary and financial institutions that are engaged primarily in the provision of financial services, such as financial intermediation, insurance companies and pension funds and activities auxiliary to financial intermediation (such as fund management).
OFCs' holdings of M4 include 35% of the sterling domestic inter-MFI difference following a review of its causes (see UK article on allocations in M4, June 1992 Economic Trends available from the Office for National Statistics). Seasonally adjusted OFCs data is calculated as IOFCs M4/M4L plus NIOFCs M4/M4L. Following a review of the seasonal adjustment method for non-intermediate OFCs once a sufficient run of monthly data was available, changes were made to the seasonally adjusted measures of M4 and M4 lending to bring them into line with the usual approach. The changes are detailed in the Statistics article ‘Modifications to the seasonally adjusted measures of M4 and M4 lending excluding intermediate OFCs’.
Private non-financial corporations (PNFCs) are companies that produce goods and/or provide non-financial services. They are mainly public limited companies, private companies and partnerships where these are distinct from their owners and not owned by government.
The household sector is made up of:
Holdings of M4 by and M4 lending to other financial corporations, private non-financial corporations and the household sector are affected by the allocation of reporters' transit and suspense items. For further details, see the notes to the ‘Monetary financial institutions' consolidated balance sheet’.
Credit card data include data from building societies from 1992 Q4 onwards.
Revised banking statistics returns were introduced at the end of September 1997 to bring the UK into line with the European Systems of Accounts Standards 1995 (ESA95). This led to changes in the definitions of economic sectors. In particular, unlimited liability partnerships were re-classified into private non-financial corporations (PNFCs) and other financial corporations (OFCs) from the household sector. Adjustments were made to minimise the breaks in the time series of financial flows.
As a result of these changes, the ‘individuals’ component of household sector M4 was only available quarterly, one month in arrears. For further details, see the Statistics article 'Outcome of the review of banking statistics, including effects on monetary and other banking statistics'.
As a result of the introduction of the new banking statistics returns at end-September 1997, comprehensive monthly sectoral data became available. Data from July 1996 to August 1997 are based on reporting by only about 100 banks, grossed up to represent the total banking sector. Data from September 1997 onwards have the same comprehensive coverage as the quarterly sectoral series.
Before September 1997, sectoral data for a short period was reported monthly on the Q1(M) form. Before July 1996, sectoral data was reported to us on a quarterly basis only on the Q1 form.
In October 1998 a revised monthly building society form was introduced, bringing the building societies into line with ESA95 standards, and breaks in series occurred as definitions changed.
In order to bring their treatment into line with that in the national accounts, housing associations were reclassified from non-profit institutions serving households in the household sector to private non-financial corporations in August 2005. Flows were adjusted for the change to both sectors. Level data however were not break-adjusted.
Building societies' statistical reporting transitioned from the Financial Services Authority to the Bank of England on 1 January 2008, and some minor changes to the calculation of the sectoral analysis of M4 and M4 lending were implemented. The effects of these have been removed from the flows data, and are small in terms of the amounts outstanding unless otherwise footnoted.
From January 2010 data onwards, all loans that have been securitised by MFIs are included on the institutions' balance sheet for statistical reporting purposes. Some institutions reported securitisations on balance sheet before 2010, so their reporting did not change. However, other institutions brought back on to their balance sheets loans that had been securitised in the past. When these loans came back on balance sheet, an additional liability to the special purpose vehicle was also brought on balance sheet, to balance out the increase in loans. This caused a level shift in various series in January 2010, as well as changing the coverage of various series from January 2010 data onwards. For more details, see the Statistics article 'Statistical reporting of securitisations'.
The treatment of loan transfers was changed from May 2015 to exclude their effects from all measures of net lending and include their effects in all measures of amounts outstanding from January 2010 data onwards. This affected the M4 lending (M4L, which was renamed as ‘M4L (historical measure)’) net lending measures and the ‘M4 lending excluding the effects of securitisations and loan transfers’ (M4Lx, which was renamed as M4L), amounts outstanding measures. As both measures became identical from January 2010 data onwards, the ‘M4L (historical measure)’ ceased after March 2015 data. For more details about this change, see the Statistics article ‘Changes to the treatment of loan transfers and lending to housing associations'.
We have collected data for MFIs’ holdings of securities issued by IOFCs and NIOFCs have since January 2014. We have used these data to improve the calculation of the M4 lending excluding IOFCs measure, as securities issued by IOFCs were previously estimated. For further details, see the Statistics article ‘Improvements to the compilation of M4 lending excluding intermediate OFCs series and the publication of additional Monetary Financial Institutions’ data’.
From February 2014 data onwards, transfers of quoted shares have been omitted from net securities flow series, bringing their treatment more into line with our approach to transfers of loans. For more details about this change, see the Statistics article ‘Changes to the treatment of securities transactions in the Bank of England’s monetary statistics’.
Changes to the treatment of securities transactions in the Bank of England’s monetary statistics Strathern, A (2015), Bankstats, (Monetary and Financial Statistics), May
Changes to the treatment of loan transfers and lending to housing associations by Akhtar, Z and Strathern, A (2015) Statistics article, April
Improvements to the compilation of M4 lending excluding intermediate OFCs series and the publication of additional Monetary Financial Institutions’ data by Rajveer Berar and Ross Meader, (2015) Statistics article, January
Proposed changes to 'lending to individuals' data and some M4 lending series: consultation with users by Zeeshan Akhtar, Sharon Bell and Jenny Owladi, Statistics article, August 2014
Modifications to the seasonally adjusted measures of M4 and M4 lending excluding intermediate OFCs by Rajveer Berar and Ross Meader, Statistics article, September 2013
Seasonal adjustment of M4 excluding intermediate OFCs (M4ex) - an update by Robert Gilhooly and Fida Hussain, Statistics article November 2010
Seasonal adjustment of quarterly M4 excluding intermediate OFCs (M4ex) by Fida Hussain and Fenella Maitland-Smith, Statistics article September 2010
Impact of securitisations and loan transfers activity on M4 lending by Lorna Hall, Monetary and Financial Statistics, November 2004