The MFI interest rate statistics have been collected on a harmonised basis in the euro area since January 2003.They replaced the Bundesbank's interest rate statistics, which were discontinued at the end of the June 2003 reference month.

The MFI interest rate statistics measure the interest rates applied by domestic banks (MFIs) and the corresponding volumes of new business in the reporting month and of all contracts outstanding at the end of the month for euro-denominated lending and deposit business with households and non-financial corporations domiciled in the euro area.The effective interest rates are calculated as volume-weighted average rates.

The Bundesbank's interest rate statistics were introduced in 1967 after government interest rate controls were lifted and collected between June 1967 and June 2003. These statistics contained the interest rates on some standardised deposit and credit products most frequently agreed upon for new business with domestic non-banks within a two-week (mid-month) reporting period.

Conceptual differences make it difficult to compare figures from the two sets of statistics. Further information can be found in the Monthly Report articles of January 2004 "The new MFI interest rate statistics - methodology for collecting the German data" and of June 2011 "Extended MFI interest rate statistics: methodology and first results" as well as in the "Comparison of the German MFI interest rate statistics (new business) with the Bundesbank's former survey of lending and deposit rates".