The concepts described on these pages are words and expressions used in statistics with a specific, limited meaning. In everyday speech the word may have a different meaning. In connection with each definition you can find information about which sets of statistics use the concept.

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Financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM)

FISIM refers to indirect financial intermediation services produced by providers of financial intermediation services (deposit banks, other monetary financial institutions practising financial intermediation, and other monetary financial institutions) but not charged separately to the customers. Institutions that practise financial intermediation services provide services for which they charge their customers indirectly by means of paying their depositors interest at a lower rate than the rate that the institutions charge their borrowers (interest rate margin). The interest rate margin covers the other expenses of the activity and produces a surplus. In national accounts, the result of this activity must be measured indirectly, which explains why the phenomenon is referred to as "indirect financial intermediation services". The English abbreviation FISIM (financial intermediation services indirectly measured) is frequently used in Finnish and Swedish texts.



Validity of the definition

  • Valid

Source organisation

  • EU

Related concepts

Actual interest can be considered as including both an income element and a charge for a service. Lenders and deposit takers operate by providing rates of interest to their depositors that are lower than the rates that they charge to their borrowers. The resulting interest margins are used by the financial corporations to defray their expenses and to provide an operating surplus. By convention, these indirect charges in respect of interest apply only to loans and deposits, and only when those loans and deposits are provided by, or deposited with, financial corporations.



Validity of the definition

  • Valid

Source organisation

  • IMF

Related concepts


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