Page 260 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 1

IPS129 Claudia V. et al.

Special purpose entities: Relevance and impact of
harmonised concepts and measurement
challenges – UK contribution
Sami Hamroush
Head of Balance of Payments, Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom

Abstract
Globalisation has led to a rapid increase in the importance of multinational
enterprises to national economies, whose activities and corporate structures
often span many countries with varied degrees of complexity. The role of
Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) has also seen a rapid increase, as multinationals
attempt to manage their access to capital markets, financial risks, and
regulatory or tax burdens. As a member of the IMF Task Force on Special
Purpose Entities, ONS has been utilising available data sources and the Task
Force’s definition of SPEs to develop a decision tree for identifying resident
SPEs in the UK’s FDI statistics. This paper summarises ONS’s analysis of
resident SPEs and outlines some of the compilation challenges faced when
producing these estimates.

Keywords
FDI; SPE; MNE; UK; Globalisation

1. Introduction
Globalisation has led to an increase in the importance of multinational
enterprises to national economies, whose activities and corporate structures
often span many countries with varied degrees of complexity. The role of
Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) has also seen a rapid increase, as multinationals
attempt to manage their access to capital markets, financial risks, and
regulatory or tax burdens.
The measurement of SPEs is important for ensuring Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) statistics accurately capture financial flows and corporate
structures, while the ability to isolate SPEs from headline statistics is
increasingly required by users who wish to analyse the true beneficiaries and
risk takers of cross-border investment.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) uses quarterly and annual FDI
surveys as the main source for producing UK FDI statistics. As a member of the
International Monetary Fund’s Task Force on Special Purpose Entities (TFSPE),
ONS has explored available data sources along with the Task Force’s definition
of SPEs to develop a decision tree for identifying resident SPEs in the UK’s FDI
statistics.

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