Spring
2007 Training Course/Seminar Series
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Current Challenges And The
Future Of Central Bank Statistics
4-day intensive residential programme, 25-29 March
2007
Venue: Cumberland Lodge, The Great Park, Windsor
Course chairman: Philip Turnbull, Consultant in Official Statistics,
former Head of Statistics at the Bank of England and multi-sector statistics
adviser at the IMF
Series Adviser: Charles Goodhart, CBE
Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics, Financial Markets Group
Details of how to register
are here
CURRENT CHALLENGES AND THE FUTURE OF CENTRAL BANK STATISTICS
Statistics departments in central banks face expanding requirements from users and reporting obligations, and technical challenges posed by evolving financial markets. As new financial products emerge and markets develop and interlink, policymakers have a growing need for timely, accurate data to underpin their decisions.
Statistical departments, therefore, are under strong pressure to deliver high-quality, relevant data. Moreover, they need to do this efficiently and reliably using limited resources.
As the economic and financial analysis conducted in central banks becomes ever more dependent on complex economic models, the reliability of the information they are given about the state of the economy is paramount.
Statistics departments realise that to meet these challenges they must continually improve their skills and techniques, and ensure that their operating methods keep up with international best practice. This training course/seminar will help heads and senior managers of statistical functions identify and tackle these challenges, and will assist them in keeping up with the very latest developments and upcoming trends in statistics provision in central banks. The idea of the course is to provide a rounded view of the state of the art in central bank statistics provision.
Assisted by expert presenters from central banks and the private sector, discussions will enable delegates to compare their central bank’s statistical work and range of responsibilities with those of comparator and leading institutions, and identify opportunities for improving the collection, management and delivery of statistical information.
The course will include workshop groups on key issues in statistics provision, and the roundtable format allows delegates to exchange views with their peers in an informal setting. Reference material will be provided for subsequent study as well as summaries of the presentations.
Since 1999, over 1,200 supervisors and central bankers have attended roundtable seminars hosted by Central Banking Publications Ltd, publishers of Central Banking and Financial Regulator journals. We look forward to welcoming you to this seminar in Windsor.
Yours sincerely,
William Clarke, PhD, CBE
Chairman
Chairman: Philip Turnbull, Consultant in Official Statistics, former Head of Statistics at the Bank of England and multi-sector statistics adviser at the IMF
Managing
central bank statistics
led by Philip
Turnbull
Roundtable session
What are the key challenges currently
confronting central bank statisticians in their home institutions? Delegates
will be expected to give a brief account of their own system for gathering,
managing and applying statistics and explain the most pressing current
issues facing their home institution with regard to the management of
the statistics division/department. The session also allows delegates
the opportunity to coordinate their thinking about which themes they
would like to see discussed in detail over the course of the seminar.
Central bank policy needs for statistics
Roger
Clews
Special Adviser,
Bank of England
Statistics departments must deliver
relevant and reliable data to meet their users’ needs, but what
are those needs? This session looks at the monetary policy and financial
stability functions of central banks, and how statistics are used in
decision-making. The speaker will consider, from the perspective of
a user of central bank statistics, how demands are changing through
the use of new models or approaches, not just for the content but also
for the presentation of statistics.
Organisation and management of central
bank statistics
Peter
Bull
Advisor to the Statistics
Directorate at the European Central Bank and previously head of that
directorate
This session will consider questions
relating to reporting lines, codes of practice, and the separation of
statistics and policy roles. It will also address relationships with
external suppliers of statistics, and any necessary supporting legislation.
The speaker is in a unique position to speak on these issues since he
was responsible for setting up a statistics division from scratch for
the European Central Bank (and its predecessor, the European Monetary
Institute).
Discussion: Organisation and management of central bank statistics
Led by Peter
Bull and
Philip Turnbull
Where should the statistics function
be located in a central bank? How should it be structured? How should
its relationships with users be organised? This discussion session offers
delegates an opportunity to benefit from each other’s expertise
and experience in confronting common problems.
Chairman: Philip Turnbull
Stuart Brown
Division Head, UK Office for National Statistics
The central bank is responsible for collecting only a subset of national economic statistics. It acts both as a supplier of this specialised information and as a consumer of wider statistical information. This session considers how to view the system of macroeconomic national accounts as an integrated framework, and considers the central bank’s role as supplier of money, banking and balance-of-payments statistics. The speaker will also examine the formal and informal working relationships between a central bank and a national statistical office, including common definitions and procedures, and codes of practice.
Issues and challenges for balance-of-payments statistics
Stuart Brown
Central banks are commonly responsible for the compilation of balance-of-payments statistics, but there are two competing approaches to this task. Countries with a history of regulatory capital controls often retain a transactions approach, collecting data on customer transactions via the banking system. Other countries use a survey approach to collect aggregate data from end-users. Increasingly a mixture of the two approaches is being adopted. This session will discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of each method, as well as looking at mixed models, different data sources, international standards and the measurement of stocks as well as flows.
Monetary and banking statistics
Philip Turnbull
The compilation of monetary statistics from banking data is another core function of central banks, and remains an important consideration in monetary policy. The speaker will discuss the IMF standards for monetary statistics and give some examples of definitions used around the world. He will look at the specific euro area and historical examples of definitions, and consider the practical issues of measurement including stocks versus flows, and how the data relate to other key statistical areas.
Banking statistics for monetary and economic policy
Jean-Marc Israël
Head of the Monetary, Financial Institutions and Markets Statistics Division, European Central Bank
The collection and compilation of banking statistics is perhaps the one common core responsibility of all central bank statisticians, with accuracy, speed and efficiency being essential. The speaker will draw on practical considerations, including how to reconcile the often conflicting objectives of providing banking statistics for supervisory and macroeconomic purposes, and links to wider macroeconomic statistics.
Chairman: Philip Turnbull
Managing
decentralised service delivery
Jean-Marc Israël
The IMF perspective
William Alexander
Deputy Director, Statistics Department, International Monetary Fund
The IMF has an important influence on central bank statistics, through its data standards and reporting requirements. This session will examine the central role of statistics in IMF Article IV consultations. It will also cover the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), the Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS), data quality, IMF manuals including financial soundness indicators, International Financial Statistics, and the Fund’s technical assistance role in statistics.
Lessons and issues from participants’ experience
Syndicate groups
Delegates will be split into smaller working groups to consider questions arising from their own experiences as well as wider issues and challenges. Participants will be given a chance to choose their topic group in advance and will be expected to give a short presentation to other working-group members. Depending on preferences, topics may include:
• Money and banking statistics
• Balance-of-payments statistics
• The scope of central bank statistical work
• Management and links to national statistical offices
Chairman: Philip Turnbull
Plenary
session from workshops
Led by Philip
Turnbull
The working groups from the
previous session will report back, summarising their discussions, experiences
and conclusions for the benefit of other delegates. This will be followed
by an open discussion.
Lessons and key issues for the future
of central bank statistics
Discussion led by Philip
Turnbull
This session will bring together
the different themes of the course and focus on key ideas and conclusions.
Delegates will reflect on lessons learnt throughout the course and identify
opportunities for moving forward, both in their own organisations and
at the international level.
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