Availability
Data are available quarterly, from 1997 Q4 onwards for amounts outstanding and from 1998 Q1 onwards for flows. Data are seasonally adjusted.
A monthly version is available from July 2009 onwards.
Sources
UK-resident banks and building societies report data directly to us on Form AD. Approximately 100 banks and building societies with eligible liabilities over £400 million or private sector deposits or loans over £1,000 million report the data on a monthly basis.
Definitions
In the 2007 Q3 Quarterly Bulletin, the Bank of England set out a proposal to modify the measurement of UK M4 by excluding the money holdings of some other financial corporations (OFCs), to obtain a better measure of those money holdings that are likely to be used as a medium of exchange. Several types of OFCs mainly provide intermediation services to banks and building societies. The deposits of these 'intermediate OFCs' are excluded from this measure of broad money.
Intermediate OFCs are defined as:
- non-bank credit grantors
- mortgage and housing credit corporations
- bank holding companies
- securitisation special purpose vehicles
- other activities auxiliary to financial intermediation
- 'other financial intermediaries' belonging to the same financial group.
Until December 2010, estimates of these intra-group deposits were based on anecdotal information provided by a sample of banks. Since January 2011, these intra-group deposits have been collected as part of the reporting on Form AD.
The data are constructed as follows:
Quarterly M4ex is calculated as households' M4 (seasonally adjusted) plus private non-financial corporations’ M4 (seasonally adjusted) plus non-intermediate other financial corporations’ M4 (seasonally adjusted). More details are available in the Statistics article ‘Seasonal adjustment of quarterly M4 excluding intermediate OFCs (M4ex)’.
Following a review of the seasonal adjustment method for non-intermediate OFCs once a sufficient run of monthly data were available, changes were made to the seasonally adjusted measures of M4 and M4 lending, to bring them into line with the usual approach. The changes are detailed in the Statistics article ‘Modifications to the seasonally adjusted measures of M4 and M4 lending excluding intermediate OFCs’.
Valuation and breaks
Gilt repo open market
In January 1996, a change in market rules was introduced allowing all market participants to borrow and lend gilts, where previously this was only available to gilt-edged market makers (GEMMs). This structural market change resulted in breaks to repo series in January 1996.
Changes to AD form
Anecdotal information on banks' intra-group business is available back to 2005 Q1 only. From January 2011, this information is collected more formally as part of Form AD.
Form AD also now includes a separate item for securitisation special purpose vehicles. Before January 2011, these formed part of mortgage and housing credit grantors, non-bank credit grantors and other financial intermediaries.
Break adjusted M4ex
Break adjusted quarterly seasonally adjusted levels series for M4ex are available from the Database.
Further information
Seasonal adjustment of M4 excluding intermediate OFCs (M4ex) – an update, Hussain, F and Gilhooly, R (2010), Statistics article November 2010
Measures of M4 and M4 lending excluding intermediate other financial corporations, Janssen, N (2009) Burgess, S and Janssen, N (2007) Statistics article May 2009
Proposals to modify the measurement of broad money in the United Kingdom: a user consultation, Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. 47, No. 3, pages 402-14
This page was last updated 31 January 2023