A more recent edition of NAICS is available.
2017 Edition

sector 52

Finance and Insurance

Overview

The Finance and Insurance sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in financial transactions (transactions involving the creation, liquidation, or change in ownership of financial assets) and/or in facilitating financial transactions. Three principal types of activities are identified:

1. Raising funds by taking deposits and/or issuing securities and, in the process, incurring liabilities. Establishments engaged in this activity use raised funds to acquire financial assets by making loans and/or purchasing securities. Putting themselves at risk, they channel funds from lenders to borrowers and transform or repackage the funds with respect to maturity, scale, and risk. This activity is known as financial intermediation.

2. Pooling of risk by underwriting insurance and annuities. Establishments engaged in this activity collect fees, insurance premiums, or annuity considerations; build up reserves; invest those reserves; and make contractual payments. Fees are based on the expected incidence of the insured risk and the expected return on investment.

3. Providing specialized services facilitating or supporting financial intermediation, insurance, and employee benefit programs. In addition, monetary authorities charged with monetary control are included in this sector.

The subsectors, industry groups, and industries within the Finance and Insurance sector are defined on the basis of their unique production processes. As with all industries, the production processes are distinguished by their use of specialized human resources and specialized physical capital. In addition, the way in which these establishments acquire and allocate financial capital, their source of funds, and the use of those funds provides a third basis for distinguishing characteristics of the production process. For instance, the production process in raising funds through deposit-taking is different from the process of raising funds in bond or money markets. The process of making loans to individuals also requires different production processes than does the creation of investment pools or the underwriting of securities.

Most of the Finance and Insurance subsectors contain one or more industry groups of (1) intermediaries with similar patterns of raising and using funds and (2) establishments engaged in activities that facilitate, or are otherwise related to, that type of financial or insurance intermediation. Industries within this sector are defined in terms of activities for which a production process can be specified, and many of these activities are not exclusive to a particular type of financial institution. To deal with the varied activities taking place within existing financial institutions, the approach is to split these institutions into components performing specialized services. This requires defining the units engaged in providing those services and developing procedures that allow for their delineation. These units are the equivalents for finance and insurance of the establishments defined for other industries.

The output of many financial services, as well as the inputs and the processes by which they are combined, cannot be observed at a single location and can only be defined at a higher level of the organizational structure of the enterprise. Additionally, a number of independent activities that represent separate and distinct production processes may take place at a single location belonging to a multilocation financial firm. Activities are more likely to be homogeneous with respect to production characteristics than are locations, at least in financial services. The classification defines activities broadly enough that it can be used both by those classifying by location and by those employing a more top-down approach to the delineation of the establishment.

Establishments engaged in activities that facilitate, or are otherwise related to, the various types of intermediation are included in multiple subsectors, rather than in a separate subsector dedicated to services alone, because these services are performed by intermediaries, as well as by specialist establishments, and the extent to which the activity of the intermediaries can be separately identified is not clear.

Financial industries are extensive users of electronic means for facilitating the verification of financial balances, authorizing transactions, transferring funds to and from transactors' accounts, notifying banks (or credit card issuers) of the individual transactions, and providing daily summaries. Since these transaction processing activities are integral to the production of finance and insurance services, establishments that principally provide a financial transaction processing service are classified in this sector, rather than in the data processing industry in the Information sector.

Legal entities that hold portfolios of assets on behalf of others are significant and data on them are required for a variety of purposes. Thus for NAICS, these funds, trusts, and other financial vehicles are the fifth subsector of the Finance and Insurance sector. These entities earn interest, dividends, and other property income, but have little or no employment and no revenue from the sale of services. Separate establishments and employees devoted to the management of funds are classified in Industry Group 5239, Other Financial Investment Activities.

Descendants

  1. 521 - Monetary Authorities-Central Bank
    1. 5211 - Monetary Authorities-Central Bank
      1. 52111 - Monetary Authorities-Central Bank
        1. 521110 - Monetary Authorities-Central Bank
  2. 522 - Credit Intermediation and Related Activities
    1. 5221 - Depository Credit Intermediation
      1. 52211 - Commercial Banking
        1. 522110 - Commercial Banking
      2. 52212 - Savings Institutions
        1. 522120 - Savings Institutions
      3. 52213 - Credit Unions
        1. 522130 - Credit Unions
      4. 52219 - Other Depository Credit Intermediation
        1. 522190 - Other Depository Credit Intermediation
    2. 5222 - Nondepository Credit Intermediation
      1. 52221 - Credit Card Issuing
        1. 522210 - Credit Card Issuing
      2. 52222 - Sales Financing
        1. 522220 - Sales Financing
      3. 52229 - Other Nondepository Credit Intermediation
        1. 522291 - Consumer Lending
        2. 522292 - Real Estate Credit
        3. 522293 - International Trade Financing
        4. 522294 - Secondary Market Financing
        5. 522298 - All Other Nondepository Credit Intermediation
    3. 5223 - Activities Related to Credit Intermediation
      1. 52231 - Mortgage and Nonmortgage Loan Brokers
        1. 522310 - Mortgage and Nonmortgage Loan Brokers
      2. 52232 - Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities
        1. 522320 - Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities
      3. 52239 - Other Activities Related to Credit Intermediation
        1. 522390 - Other Activities Related to Credit Intermediation
  3. 523 - Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities
    1. 5231 - Securities and Commodity Contracts Intermediation and Brokerage
      1. 52311 - Investment Banking and Securities Dealing
        1. 523110 - Investment Banking and Securities Dealing
      2. 52312 - Securities Brokerage
        1. 523120 - Securities Brokerage
      3. 52313 - Commodity Contracts Dealing
        1. 523130 - Commodity Contracts Dealing
      4. 52314 - Commodity Contracts Brokerage
        1. 523140 - Commodity Contracts Brokerage
    2. 5232 - Securities and Commodity Exchanges
      1. 52321 - Securities and Commodity Exchanges
        1. 523210 - Securities and Commodity Exchanges
    3. 5239 - Other Financial Investment Activities
      1. 52391 - Miscellaneous Intermediation
        1. 523910 - Miscellaneous Intermediation
      2. 52392 - Portfolio Management
        1. 523920 - Portfolio Management
      3. 52393 - Investment Advice
        1. 523930 - Investment Advice
      4. 52399 - All Other Financial Investment Activities
        1. 523991 - Trust, Fiduciary, and Custody Activities
        2. 523999 - Miscellaneous Financial Investment Activities
  4. 524 - Insurance Carriers and Related Activities
    1. 5241 - Insurance Carriers
      1. 52411 - Direct Life, Health, and Medical Insurance Carriers
        1. 524113 - Direct Life Insurance Carriers
        2. 524114 - Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers
      2. 52412 - Direct Insurance (except Life, Health, and Medical) Carriers
        1. 524126 - Direct Property and Casualty Insurance Carriers
        2. 524127 - Direct Title Insurance Carriers
        3. 524128 - Other Direct Insurance (except Life, Health, and Medical) Carriers
      3. 52413 - Reinsurance Carriers
        1. 524130 - Reinsurance Carriers
    2. 5242 - Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related Activities
      1. 52421 - Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
        1. 524210 - Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
      2. 52429 - Other Insurance Related Activities
        1. 524291 - Claims Adjusting
        2. 524292 - Third Party Administration of Insurance and Pension Funds
        3. 524298 - All Other Insurance Related Activities
  5. 525 - Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles
    1. 5251 - Insurance and Employee Benefit Funds
      1. 52511 - Pension Funds
        1. 525110 - Pension Funds
      2. 52512 - Health and Welfare Funds
        1. 525120 - Health and Welfare Funds
      3. 52519 - Other Insurance Funds
        1. 525190 - Other Insurance Funds
    2. 5259 - Other Investment Pools and Funds
      1. 52591 - Open-End Investment Funds
        1. 525910 - Open-End Investment Funds
      2. 52592 - Trusts, Estates, and Agency Accounts
        1. 525920 - Trusts, Estates, and Agency Accounts
      3. 52599 - Other Financial Vehicles
        1. 525990 - Other Financial Vehicles

History

The NAICS editions in which this code was present are indicated below. In the event that a code was changed from the prior edition the equivalent value in that edition is provided for reference.

Edition Existed Equivalent Value
2002 52
2007 52
2012 52
2017 52
2022 52

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Mappings

SIC Mappings are not available at the sector level, a more specific code is required.

SIC mappings are available for 6 digit national industry codes and their sub-descriptions only. For detailed mappings choose the most appropriate six-digit code from the list of descendants.

Insurance Industry Mappings

Mappings are not available at the sector level, a more specific code is required.

Insurance industry mappings are available for 6 digit national industry codes and their sub-descriptions only. For detailed mappings choose the most appropriate six-digit code from the list of descendants.

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