Balance sheet (BT) return

Key facts

Data to be reported:	Spot liabilities and assets
Who has to report:	All firms required to submit statistical returns Check who needs to submit returns
Data uses:	Multiple including: Money and credit release (Bank of England) Bankstats tables (Bank of England) Monetary Policy Report (Bank of England) Balance of payments (ONS) National accounts (ONS)
Frequency:	Monthly or quarterly depending on reporter monthly – total assets in excess of £3 billion, private sector holdings in excess of £1 billion or those required to report to the GT or BN returns quarterly – all other reporters
Coverage	Go to reporting criteria to find detailed calculations used to determine eligibility

Deadlines

Firms need to report figures as at the last calendar day of the reporting period.

Go to reporting criteria to download deadlines for all returns for all available years.

Reporting period	Reporters impacted	Deadline (5pm UK time)	Concessionary deadline (5pm UK time)

*If concessionary deadlines are applicable to your firm submission this will have been communicated directly by the Bank of England. If you have not received any such communication please adhere to the standard deadlines.

Deadlines for 2026 will be released in October 2025.

 

Instructions

Overview of reported data

This return captures reporting institutions’ balance sheets. It includes breakdowns by:

• assets, including cash, loans and investments
• liabilities, including deposits and capital 
• other items, including acceptances and custody holdings for non-residents

It also captures:

• currency breakdowns – sterling, euro, other – with foreign currencies to be reported in sterling
• the broad economic sectors of counterparties – for example, banks versus UK private sector or the public sector  

In every return firms also need to include the following information:

• their company name
• their legal entity identifier (LEI) or firm reference number (FRN)
• the first day of the reporting period
• the last day of the reporting period

Core documents

You can find detailed instructions in the documents below. 

Balance Sheet (BT) specific documents

Document	Notes for BT reporters	Last updated
Form BT presentation (PPSX)	Includes a high level overview of BT with tips for common reporting issues	4 May 2018
BoE statistics data point model (DPM) 1.3.0 (ZIP)	A folder containing two documents for defining all statistical reporting: annotated templates and a data dictionary The Table of Contents worksheet in the annotated templates shows reporting templates relating to form BT	24 Oct 2022
BT definitions (PDF)	Includes details of what’s in scope and definitions of BT-specific terms	24 Apr 2024
BoE statistics validations 1.3.0 (XLSX)	Business validations for cross-checking data points within form BT and the suite of other statistical returns View column O for a clearly worded description	24 Oct 2022
Form SPV worked examples (PDF)	Includes detailed instructions on reporting special purpose vehicles	8 Oct 2020

All statistical returns

Document	Notes for all reporters	Last updated
Classification of accounts guide (PDF)	Includes detailed guidance on how to classify counterparties plus country lists	24 Apr 2024
General notes and definitions (PDF)	Includes an introduction to preparing returns and definitions of common terms	24 Apr 2024