IFC Bulletin 43 1 Statistical implications of the new financial landscape Overview of the eighth IFC conference 1 Burcu Tunç 2 and Bruno Tissot 3 Opening the eighth IFC conference on the “Statistical implications of the new financial landscape,” 4 Katherine Hennings, IFC Vice Chair and representative from the Central Bank of Brazil, underlined central bank statisticians’ ongoing efforts to improve international financial statistics in response to the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2007–09. Such efforts aimed, in particular, at developing better quality, more comprehensive and more flexible data sets. In his remarks, Luiz Awazu Pereira da Silva, Deputy General Manager of the BIS, recalled the numerous actions undertaken in the area of financial statistics since the GFC, including, in particular, the Data Gaps Initiative endorsed by the G20 (see IMF and FSB (2009), and Heath and Goksu (2016)). The BIS and the various financial stability groups hosted at the BIS have concentrated their efforts on four major areas: the production of new financial statistics; the effective dissemination of these data; their adequate use, especially for policy purposes; and the anchoring of Basel- based statistical work in international initiatives. Looking ahead, one needs to be prepared for the constant emergence of new data-related issues. To this end, statisticians should further their efforts to: produce better macro statistics; collect macro-relevant, “pure” micro data; facilitate the linking of macro- and micro- financial data; better assess the distribution of aggregated indicators; ensure that the design and assessment of new financial policies are based on statistical evidence; and expand “the knowledge frontier” by developing new concepts for analysing financial stability issues (Tissot (2016a)). In his keynote speech, Pedro Silva, President of the International Statistical Institute (ISI), emphasised the disconnection between the large data gaps revealed by the GFC and the increasing volume of statistics emanating from the digital revolution (IFC (2015b)). But having more data at one’s disposal was not necessarily associated with better quality information. It was also posing new and sometimes unexpected challenges. The way forward for statisticians was to keep their existing and well known data frameworks, and to complete them with available information rather than switching to the compilation of entirely new large data sets. In any case, 1 The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Bank for International Settlements, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey or the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics. 2 CBRT, Statistics Department (Burcu.tunc@tcmb.gov.tr). 3 Head of Statistics and Research Support, BIS, and Head of the IFC Secretariat (Bruno.Tissot@bis.org). 4 Hosted by the BIS in Basel on 8 and 9 September 2016 and attended by about 150 participants from 63 countries.