Definition: Financial assets

European System of Accounts (ESA)

All financial claims, equity and the gold bullion component of monetary gold (ESA 2010).

Financial assets are economic assets, comprising means of payment, financial claims and economic assets which are close to financial claims in nature.

Means of payment consist of monetary gold, special drawing rights, currency and transferable deposits.

Financial claims entitle their owners, the creditors, to receive a payment or series of payments without any counter-performance from other institutional units, the debtors, who have incurred the counterpart liabilities.

Examples of economic assets which are close to financial claims in nature are financial derivatives and shares and other equity (Annex 7.1: Definition of each asset category).

Seven categories of financial assets are distinguished: monetary gold and special drawing rights, currency and deposits, securities other than shares, loans, shares and other equity, insurance technical reserves and other accounts receivable/payable (§ 5.06) (ESA 1995). http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/product?code=KS-02-13-269&mode=view European Union, Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union, Official Journal of the European Union No L 174, 26.06.2013, p. 1 - 727Eurostat, "European System of Accounts - ESA 1995", Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 1996