Globalisation and Financial Stability Risks : Is the Residency-Based Approach of the National Accounts Old-Fashioned?

The Great Financial Crisis of 2007-09 and its aftermath have emphasised the need for a global approach when assessing financial stability risks. One difficulty is that the traditional apparatus, especially the System of National Accounts (SNA), relies on the criterion of residency to capture statistical information within countries' boundaries. This paper analyses how to collect meaningful data to assess consolidated risk exposures. In particular, it argues that data collected along the residency-based SNA concept can be usefully complemented by a nationality-based, global approach. This requires the establishment of a framework for assessing financial positions on a socalled "nationality-basis", that is, at a globally consolidated level