<p>I am trying to use QSA financial derivatives data retrieved from the ECB's database (this is actually compiled by ECB and Eurostat).</p>

<p>To be more specific, the data is: Financial derivatives held as assets in the total economy. This is the link to it on ECB's website: <a href="https://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/browseSelection.do?type=series&amp;q=QSA.Q.N.*.W0.S1.S1.N.A.LE.F7.T._Z.XDC._T.S.V.N._T&amp;node=SEARCHRESULTS&amp;ec=&amp;oc=&amp;rc=&amp;cv=&amp;pb=&amp;dc=&amp;df=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/browseSelection.do?type=series&amp;q=QSA.Q.N.*.W0.S1.S1.N.A.LE.F7.T._Z.XDC._T.S.V.N._T&amp;node=SEARCHRESULTS&amp;ec=&amp;oc=&amp;rc=&amp;cv=&amp;pb=&amp;dc=&amp;df=</a></p>

<p>My question is: what's the quality of this data? Would you use it for empirical work? I know that it's particularly hard to measure financial derivatives, but there are some really strange things in this data.</p>

<p>For example, if I look at the derivatives-to-GDP ratio for the UK, this suddenly jumps from about 1% until 2003q4 to 350% in 2004q1 (and stays at similar levels thereafter). The same thing happens for some other countries, at different times. I really find it difficult to explain such huge changes.</p>

<p>Anyone has a good knowledge about this data and could please tell me more?</p>

<p>Thank you very much in advance.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-16T18:22:40.713Z
The ECB sometimes changes their indicators' methodology (they did that with M3 in the past decade).  Finding out when and how can be a pain though.
fantastic peace and prosperity
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-17T13:48:49.513Z
My question is not really about changes in methodology. I doubt a change in methodology could cause such a drastic change in a variable. There must be something else going on.
gitcanzo
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-17T13:51:10.283Z
The reason they changed their M3 calculation method was that it was showing unreasonably high variability, because of how repo transactions with  Eurex Clearing were counted. I would not be surprised if there are other artifacts like that in other data they capture, but it's just a guess.
fantastic peace and prosperity
<econometrics><financial-economics><euro-area><data>
How reliable is ECB's financial derivatives data?
gitcanzo
# How reliable is ECB's financial derivatives data?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-04-16)

I am trying to use QSA financial derivatives data retrieved from the ECB's database (this is actually compiled by ECB and Eurostat).

To be more specific, the data is: Financial derivatives held as assets in the total economy. This is the link to it on ECB's website: [https://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/browseSelection.do?type=series&q=QSA.Q.N.\*.W0.S1.S1.N.A.LE.F7.T.\_Z.XDC.\_T.S.V.N.\_T&node=SEARCHRESULTS&ec=&oc=&rc=&cv=&pb=&dc=&df=](https://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/browseSelection.do?type=series&q=QSA.Q.N.*.W0.S1.S1.N.A.LE.F7.T._Z.XDC._T.S.V.N._T&node=SEARCHRESULTS&ec=&oc=&rc=&cv=&pb=&dc=&df=)

My question is: what's the quality of this data? Would you use it for empirical work? I know that it's particularly hard to measure financial derivatives, but there are some really strange things in this data.

For example, if I look at the derivatives-to-GDP ratio for the UK, this suddenly jumps from about 1% until 2003q4 to 350% in 2004q1 (and stays at similar levels thereafter). The same thing happens for some other countries, at different times. I really find it difficult to explain such huge changes.

Anyone has a good knowledge about this data and could please tell me more?

Thank you very much in advance.

**Tags:** econometrics, financial-economics, euro-area, data

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The ECB sometimes changes their indicators' methodology (they did that with M3 in the past decade).  Finding out when and how can be a pain though.  
> **username_0**: My question is not really about changes in methodology. I doubt a change in methodology could cause such a drastic change in a variable. There must be something else going on.  
> **username_1**: The reason they changed their M3 calculation method was that it was showing unreasonably high variability, because of how repo transactions with  Eurex Clearing were counted. I would not be surprised if there are other artifacts like that in other data they capture, but it's just a guess.  

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## 0 answers

