The statistical classification of cash pooling activities

Abstract

Cash pooling is a bank service that allows corporates to externalise the intra-group cash management, and thus manage their global liquidity effectively with lower costs. Although there is little quantitative information on the significance of the phenomenon, cash pooling appears to have become increasingly popular after the onset of the financial crisis when, in an environment characterised by limited access to capital markets, reduced bank lending, low returns and higher risks on banks' deposits, corporate groups started to maximise their use of internal sources of financing. In particular, cash pooling is currently very relevant in Western and Northern European countries, and is mainly offered in the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands. This paper first analyses cash pooling agreements with a focus on the aspects that are relevant from a statistical viewpoint. It then addresses their statistical recording in compliance with ESA 2010 and, specifically, the methodological framework of Monetary Financial Institutions (MFI) balance sheet item statistics. It is proposed that positions related to cash pooling shall be recorded on a gross basis vis- JEL Classification: G21, G32, E51, E43, M41