Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services

6. Financial services 
3.108.  Financial services 
covers financial 
intermediation and auxiliary services, except those of 
life insurance enterprises and pension funds (which are 
included in life insurance and pension funding) and 
other insurance services that are conducted between 
residents and non-residents. Such services may be 
provided by banks, stock exchanges, factoring 
enterprises, credit card enterprises and other 
enterprises.
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 Included are services provided in 
connection with transactions in financial instruments, as 
well as other services related to financial activity, such 
as advisory, custody and asset management services. In 
addition, two memorandum items are recommended, 
financial intermediation services indirectly measured 
and  financial services including FISIM. These are 
included to provide a means by which total financial 
services may be more completely compared 
internationally, because financial institutions in some 
countries may charge explicitly for services that can be 
measured only indirectly in others.  
3.109. 
In general, financial intermediaries incur 
liabilities that they then lend to other entities on terms 
and conditions different from those applicable to their 
incurrence of liabilities. That is, they intermediate 
between lenders and borrowers by channelling funds 
from one to the other, putting themselves at risk in the 
process. The liabilities incurred and the assets acquired 
through this process are shown on the balance sheets of 
the intermediaries. These activities comprise financial 
intermediation. 
3.110. In  principle,  financial intermediation services 
should also include FISIM, reflecting services that are 
not explicitly charged. FISIM is described briefly in box 
5. The 1993 SNA recommends the allocation of FISIM 
to consuming sectors, including as a component of the 
external account of goods and services, in effect 
reclassifying a portion of interest income as financial 
services. However, the 1993 SNA also allows countries 
not to allocate any production of FISIM, consistent with 
the approach in the 1968 SNA.  For practical reasons 
and reflecting the views of national balance of payments 
compilers at the time of its writing, BPM5 does not 
recommend including an estimate of FISIM in exports 
and imports of services. In consonance with the principle 
                                                 
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  A more detailed breakdown of the component financial 
services, appropriate to the particular need to provide data 
useful for negotiations under GATS, may be developed after 
publication of the present Manual. 

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