A question about our statistics?
Whether it’s interest or exchange rates, the Balance of Payments of the Netherlands or figures on banks, insurers and pension funds – chances are the Statistics and Information department of De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) knows more about it. On this page you will find background to these topics and answers to frequently asked questions.
If you don’t find what you’re looking for or need further information, you may contact us by email.
Most frequently asked questions
- Where can I find exchange rates?
- What is the difference between flows and levels of foreign direct investment?
- What is the current ‘statutory interest rate’?
- When are the tables updated?
- The tables of daily figures go back six months. Are these figures available for longer periods as well?
- Which rate is used as the discount on promissory notes?
- The mortgage rate table in Table 1.2.2 goes back only to 2003. Are there any data available that go further back?
- Do you have charts available based on the figures shown in the tables?
- Are there any data available on health care insurers during the time before 2006?
- What does the name Euribor mean? Are rates available that go back to before 1999?
- I’m looking for data on outstanding mortgage indebtedness in the Netherlands?
- Are the annual accounts of and individual data on insurance companies publicly accessible?
- Where can I find the interest rate term structure under the Financial Assessment Framework (FTK)?
Another question
If your question is not among the above, you may contact us via email:
- E-mail: ask your question *
Where can I find exchange rates?
De Nederlandsche Bank publishes daily updates on the main exchange rates, on a daily, monthly and quarterly basis. Euro exchange rates are available from 1 January 1999. Guilder rates are included on the period from 1 January 1982 until 31 December 2001 (daily rates from 1990). When the cash euro was introduced on 1 January 2002, the publication of guilder rates was discontinued.
Exchange rates
What is the difference between flows and levels of foreign direct investment?
Foreign direct investment flows comprise the sum total of transactions during a certain period to do with the acquisition of equity by Dutch companies in foreign companies, and vice versa, with the aim to obtain voting rights in the management of such companies. Also included are financial transactions between affiliated companies (loans, retained profits, changes in intragroup current accounts, working capital transfers) and the purchase / sale of real estate.
Levels, by contrast, represent the total value of all cross-border claims and liabilities
between companies with foreign parents or subsidiaries at a specific point in time. Levels represent aggregate transactions, including both investments and other financial transactions, adjusted for price, exchange rate and other changes (including goodwill).
Direct investment
What is the current ‘statutory interest rate’?
- As of 1 December 2002, there are two different statutory interest rates:
1) The rate applying to commercial transactions, imposed (under a European Directive) by sections 6:119a and 6:120 of the Dutch Civil Code.
2) The statutory rate that was already in effect before December 2002. This rate continues to apply to non-commercial transactions between, for instance, a retailer and a consumer. It is imposed under sections 6:119 and 6:120 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Statutory interest rate on commercial transactions
The statutory interest rate on commercial transactions between companies and government bodies is set for a period of six months. It derives from the marginal interest rate that the European Central Bank applied to its main refinancing operations prior to the relevant six-month period, i.e. before 1 January or 1 July of each year, plus an increment of 7 percentage points.
Statutory rate on non-commercial transactions
The statutory interest rate on non-commercial transactions is set by Order in Council and is published in the Dutch Bulletin of Acts and Decrees. This statutory interest rate is determined by adding 2.25% to the ECB’s refinancing rate, rounded up or down. The reference dates for any adjustments to the statutory interest rate are 30 April and 31 October.
Source: Dutch Ministry of Justice
When are the tables updated?
The tables, charts and time series are published on the DNB website as soon as possible after the data become available. Daily figures are updated the next working day before 10:00 hours CET. For other statistics, please refer to the publication calendar. There you may find updating schedules by table number or by subject.
Publication calendar
The tables on daily figures show six-month periods. Are longer series of figures available as well?
The DNB website has daily figures on exchange and interest rate series going back to 1990, if available. The MS Excel tables of daily figures show the current and the last half-year. For older figures or longer series you may use the ‘Daily’ link under the ‘Series’ heading. Here you may select individual currencies or interest rate series and the period for which you wish to display or download them. In the case of exchange rates, the daily series of rates vis-à-vis the guilder run from 1990 up to and including 2001. Euro exchange rates run from 1999 up to today.
Interest rates
Exchange rates
Which rate is used as the discount on promissory notes?
When the non-cash euro was introduced on 1 January 1999 and the European Central Bank was established at the same time, the Fixed Rate on Advances (‘vaste voorschotrente’) was abolished. In order to ensure the continuity of running Dutch law contracts, articles of association and testaments and to prevent legal uncertainty wherever possible, the Replacement of Reference Interest Rates Act was introduced. Under this regulation the Fixed Rate on Advances (FRA) was fixed at the ECB deposit rate plus 0.75 percentage point. By the same token, the Discount on Promissory Notes (which used to be equal to the FRA plus 0.5 percentage point) was set at the ECB deposit rate plus 1.25 percentage points. For the transition period (4–21 January 1999), the discount on promissory notes was exceptionally fixed at the ECB deposit rate plus 0,5 percentage point.
The Replacement Act mentioned above was meant to cover cases where parties had omitted to make their own interest arrangements. Since 1 January 2002, there have been no statutory default interest rates and it has been up to contract parties to agree rates between them.
Discount on promissory notes
The mortgage rate table in Table 3.8.2 goes back only to 2003. Are there any data available that go further back?
Table 1.2.2 on interest rate statistics is compiled according to rules set by the European Central Bank (Regulation ECB/2001/18). Because these EU-wide rules have been in effect from 2003, earlier figures on interest rates (including mortgage rates) are not available. The table concerns rates on euro deposits loans agreed between banks resident in the Netherlands and households and enterprises resident in the Euro area.
Mortgage rates (Table 1.2.2)
Do you have charts available based on the figures shown in the tables?
Charts are available on numerous subjects in MS Excel format. Generally, they are included at the bottom of the relevant page. For any interest and exchange rate, you may create daily charts on any period within the available range. Here’s how:
- In the menu, select Exchange rates or Interest rates.
- Next, under the ‘daily charts’ heading, you may click on, respectively, ‘select currency’ or ‘select interest rate’.
Daily charts on interest rates
Are there any data available on health care insurers during the time before 2006?
On 1 January 2006, the new health care system replaced the former system combining state-sponsored health insurance funds and private health care insurance companies. Because the change necessitated the introduction of new reporting requirements, current data on health insurers are partly incompatible with figures dating back to before 2006. Furthermore, since the former health insurance funds were not subject to supervision by DNB, our statistics do not include figures on those institutions either. Although non-life insurers (including accident and health care insurers) were already supervised by DNB, mergers and portfolio transfers prompted by the system change have made both data series difficult to compare.
Supervision data insurers
What does the name Euribor mean? Are rates available that go back to before 1999?
The name Euribor is short for Euro Interbank Offered Rate. It is the average of the interest rates (not counting the highest and the lowest) at which 57 selected banks in the euro area offer to extend euro loans to other banks. Table 1.2.1, under the Interest rates menu, shows the Euribor on 1 , 3 , 6 and 12 month interbank loans. The rates are available from the launch of the Third Stage of EMU (1 January 1999) on daily, monthly, quarterly and yearly bases.
For the Netherlands, the predecessor of the Euribor used to be the Aibor (Amsterdam Interbank Offered Rate). The Aibor was based on rates on guilder loans offered by ten selected Dutch banks. From the date the Euribor was introduced, 1 January 1999, the Aibor was discontinued.
Interest rates (Table 1.2.1)
I’m looking for data on outstanding mortgage indebtedness in the Netherlands?
Tables 5.2.1, Monetary Developments and 1.2.2, Interest Rates on Bank Deposits and Loans, with corresponding volumes, present onlt data on residential mortgages (i.e. mortgage loans extended by banks to households). Tables
6.1, Balance sheet of collective investment schemes and 7.1, Balance sheet of Special Purpose Vehicles do not present a breakdown by counterparty. The latter two tables refer to mortgages in the broadest sense. The data on residential mortgages are obtained from the Social and Economic (SE) reports.
Domestic MFI-statistics (Table 5.2.1)
Interest rates (Table 1.2.2)
Investment funds (Table 6.1)
Special Purpose Vehicles (Table 7.1)
Are the annual accounts of and individual data on insurance companies publicly accessible?
Under the Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht) insurers
are required to publish an annual report, annual accounts and, if applicable,
additional information on profit sharing. Such public statements must remain
accessible to the public for eighteen months after the end of the relevant
fiscal year. The (individual) data published by De Nederlandsche Bank are
accessible under the following link to the DNB website.
Supervision data insurers
Where can I find the interest rate term structure under the Financial Assessment Framework (FTK)?
In order to facilitate the calculation of the fair vailue of pension liabilities, DNB publishes an interest rate term structure. The interest rate term structure is based on the swap curve.
