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Developing a database on securities holders: the case of Japan Yoshiko Sato and Satoru Hagino1 1. Introduction Identifying the exact holder or the holding sector of securities is always one of the most challenging tasks for statistical compilers. In macroeconomic statistics such as the flow of funds accounts, a balance sheet provides useful information on the amount of securities held, but aggregating balance sheets does not always provide a full picture of the economy. Balance sheets of non-financial corporations and some of other financial institutions, for example, are not always available, and households do not prepare balance sheets. Under such constraints, some central banks and statistical authorities have started projects to build up securities databases to store information on securities holders. The ECB (2009) explains that its intention of establishing a single authoritative data source – the centralized securities database – is aimed at meeting the needs of the ECB itself. The BIS, ECB, and IMF (2010) are proponents of focusing on the holding side of securities statistics. This kind of movement is gaining ground especially after the recent financial crisis, in which securitized products incurred considerable financial losses to their holders, thereby transmitting risks throughout the financial system. The Financial Stability Board (2009) advocates the importance of knowing where risks actually lie across institutions. This paper introduces the Bank of Japan’s recent exploration of the Central Securities Depository (CSD) data as a statistical source of securities holders’ information. This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 explains the features of