The Bank of England breaks down its deposit and lending data (specifically on Forms AD and AL) using standard economic and industrial sectors 3, 7. The classification is based strictly on the borrower’s or depositor’s primary economic activity, irrespective of ownership (e.g., a state-owned transport company is classified under “Transport” rather than the public sector) 2, 9 .

The system follows the UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC 2007) system and is categorized into 18 broad industrial groups 9,11 :

• • Industrial sectors

    •  1 – Agriculture, Hunting, and Forestry
    •  2 – Fishing
    •  3 – Mining and Quarrying
    •  4 -Manufacturing
    •  5 – Electricity, Gas, and Water Supply
    •  6 – Construction
    •  7 – Wholesale and Retail Trade (Distributive trades, including merchants and brokers) 8
    •  8 – Accommodation and Food Service Activities
    •  9 – Transport, Storage, and Communication
    • 10 – Financial Intermediation (Excludes UK banks and building societies to avoid double-counting. Includes other financial entities, such as securities dealers, mortgage finance companies, and holding companies) 5, 8
    • 11 – Real Estate, Professional Services, and Support Activities
    • 12 – Public Administration and Defence (Central/local government entities) 9
    • 13 – Education
    • 14 – Human Health and Social Work
    • 15 – Other Community, Social, and Personal Service Activities
    • 16 – Pension Funds 9
    • 17 – Insurance Companies 9
    • 18 – Individuals and Individual Trusts (Typically covers personal mortgage and consumer lending) 9,10

  • Holdings, Banking and Building societies

    • 98 – Holding Companies including Head Offices
    • 99 – Monetary Intermediation, Banking and Building Societies

• Industrial Macro-Economics Groupings

  To simplify analysis, the BoE frequently aggregates these 18 sectors into four macro-economic divisions 1, 6:

  • Private Non-Financial Corporations (PNFCs): All privately owned commercial businesses 1, 6.
  • Public Corporations: Government-owned commercial enterprises 1, 6.
  • Other Financial Corporations (OFCs): Non-bank financial entities, divided into Intermediate OFCs (IOFCs—e.g., securitisation vehicles) and Non-Intermediate OFCs (NIOFCs—e.g., investment trusts and pension funds) 1, 4 .
  • Households / Individuals: Private retail customers 1, 6.

Referenced internet pages dealing with BOE (Bank of England) on-line information:

• 1 – BOE – Money and Credit – Nov 2025 (from : www.bankofengland.co.uk)
• 2 – ONS – Financial Statistics Explanatory Handbook- 2008  (from : escoe-website.s3.amazonaws.com)
• 3 – BOE – Analysis of lending to UK residents (from : www.bankofengland.co.uk)
• 4 – BOE – Classification of Accounts Guide – Jan 2018 (from : www.bankofengland.co.uk)
• 5 – ONS – Economic Statistics Transformation Programme (from : www.ons.gov.uk)
• 6 – BOE – Money and Credit – July 2025 (from : www.bankofengland.co.uk)
• 7 – BOE – Analysis of deposits from UK residents (from : www.bankofengland.co.uk)
• 8 – Classification of Accounts Guide – 2024
• 9 – Classification of Accounts Guide – 2018 
• 10 – A different way of banking
• 11 – BOE – Details about industrial analysis deposits and lending data (from : www.bankofengland.co.uk)