Market events over the past several years have made it quite clear that meaningful and transparent financial data are vital to effective monitoring of market participants as well as understanding the scale of the shadow banking activities and their interconnectedness with the traditional banking system. In a June address in Frankfort, Jürgen Stark, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), announced new statistical data sets intended to improve the existing balance sheet and interest rate reporting by "monetary financial institutions." The ECB has introduced these new data sets as part of their effort develop relevant and real-time policies to assess systematic risks and keep apace of innovations and movements in the financial landscape.