Finally, not only financial markets but also other asset markets, such as real estate markets, have to be monitored closely. Currently, financial stability issues in the euro area are analysed on the basis of existing data collected for monetary policy or supervisory purposes. Evidently, the coverage and definitions of data collected for monetary policy purposes do not always fulfil the needs of financial stability analysis. In addition, the data from supervisory sources are not harmonised across countries. The development of harmonised bank profitability, asset quality and capital adequacy data is a big challenge for a multinational economy such as the euro area. The same applies to the much needed enhancement and harmonisation of information on insurance corporations and on the financial  1  The financial and non-financial accounts would cover the following sectors in principle: households (including non-profit institutions serving households), non-financial corporations, financial corporations, government and the rest of the world. 4  BIS Review 67/2004  situation of firms and households. Moreover, this work should exploit synergies with the initiatives of other international organisations, in particular the work of the IMF on financial soundness indicators. The need for a comprehensive analytical framework Statistics as well as additional information such as synthetic indicators, model forecasts and anecdotal evidence provide economic analysts with the raw material to derive a consistent and timely judgment about the true prevailing economic circumstances and the position of the economy in its business cycle.
The HKMA has now decided that Participating AIs can include two more types of RMB assets, namely “RMB sovereign bonds issued in Hong Kong by the Ministry of Finance of China” and “RMB bond investment through the Mainland interbank bond market”, in the calculation of this limit. The above two relaxations take effect today. I believe they will help expand the scope of development for offshore RMB business in Hong Kong and provide banks with a greater flexibility in RMB asset management, which will be conducive to further development of the market. Third, the HKMA has imposed some restrictive arrangements on the inclusion of RMB assets as liquid assets in calculating the statutory liquidity ratio of AIs. As the offshore RMB market in Hong Kong becomes more mature, I believe there is room for suitably relaxing these restrictions. Since the adjustments to be made in the calculation are more complicated and technical, we shall announce the details later. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1