The AnaCredit project at ESCB level
The Analytical Credit dataset project (AnaCredit for short) was launched by the ESCB in 2011 to set up a database containing information on loans granted by the euro-area banking sector.
On 18 May 2016 the ECB adopted Regulation (EU) 2016/867 on the collection of granular credit and credit risk data (known as the ‘AnaCredit Regulation’), which incorporates an amended version of what was already approved in principle by the Governing Council in 2015.
Based on this Regulation, since September 2018, national central banks (NCBs) in the euro area collect harmonized and granular data from resident credit institutions and their foreign branches concerning loans and collateral or guarantees extended to counterparties identified as legal entities.
The new data populate a European database on credit and credit risk, managed and maintained by the ECB and used to meet the information needs of the ESCB (in the areas of monetary policy, financial stability, research, and statistics production). In the future it will also be used to respond to the information needs of micro-prudential supervision carried out under the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM).
Although AnaCredit’s goal is not to build a European Central Credit Register (CCR), the NCBs that already manage a national CCR may nonetheless, and subject to certain conditions, draw on AnaCredit data to bolster national information services for participating intermediaries (typically, return flows and replies to ad hoc requests).
Documents relating to the AnaCredit project are available on the ECB's website, including the AnaCredit Regulation, the AnaCredit Manual (which provides useful information to reporting intermediaries and guidelines on the reporting requirements laid down in the AnaCredit Regulation), and the Explanatory Note (describing the project and its objectives).
Analytical credit data collection at national level
Italy's Central Credit Register (CCR) and AnaCredit data will be merged after the launch of the new data collection in September 2018; for the time being, therefore, the two surveys will remain separate. The national laws on CCRs will also continue to be in force and effective vis-à-vis all the credit and financial institutions bound to take part in the service (even when subject to European supervision); in its capacity as supervisor, the Bank of Italy will continue to regulate this service.
The new national collection of granular credit and credit risk data is regulated by Bank of Italy Circular No. 297, which:
- sets out the rules governing the new harmonized collection of credit data provided for in the AnaCredit Regulation;
- transposes and supplements the information supplied in the AnaCredit Manual;
- implements the instructions provided to credit institutions in previous Communications issued by the Bank of Italy in 2016;
- streamlines the regulatory framework for the collection of granular data on the interest rates applied by credit institutions, with the abrogation of Circular No. 251 of 17 July 2003, Rilevazione analitica dei tassi di interesse. Istruzioni per le banche segnalanti.
The AnaCredit Counterparties Register is based on the Bank of Italy's Register of Entities, which already performs this role for the CCR and all the other data collection surveys managed by the Bank of Italy. Resident and non-resident counterparties therefore have to be identified by reporting agents using a code provided by the Bank of Italy's Register of Entities. Compared to other nominative surveys, AnaCredit requires a series of additional reference attributes (see. Circular No. 302 "Le informazioni anagrafiche a supporto delle rilevazioni della Banca d'Italia: istruzioni per gli intermediari"). The documentation referring to the Bank of Italy’s Register of Entities is available in the section "The counterparties reference data" of the dedicated page.
