Locational banking statistics
About
The locational banking statistics (LBS) measure international banking activity from a residence perspective, focusing on the location of the banking office.
They are compiled following principles that are consistent with balance of payments statistics. The LBS capture the outstanding claims (financial assets) and liabilities of internationally active banks located in reporting countries on counterparties residing in more than 200 countries. Banks record their positions on an unconsolidated basis, including intragroup positions between offices of the same banking group. The LBS capture around 95% of all cross-border banking activity. The availability of a currency breakdown in the LBS, coupled with the reporting of breaks arising from changes in methodology, reporting practices or reporting population, enables the BIS to calculate break- and exchange rate-adjusted changes in amounts outstanding. Such adjusted changes approximate underlying flows during a quarter.
Commentary
Methodology
IBS reporting countries
Estimated global coverage of the locational banking statistics
Convention for country groupings
Reporting Practices
Reporting institutions
Breaks in Series
Latest revisions and breaks
- Countries with data carried forward from previous quarters
- Significant revisions and breaks of the consolidated banking statistics are explained.
IBS reporting guidelines 2019
The Guidelines for reporting the BIS international banking statistics provide definitions and requirements for reporting locational and consolidated banking statistics. The consistency of reporting practices with the Guidelines varies across reporting countries, and key discrepancies are highlighted in countries' summaries of their banks' reporting practices.
The July 2019 version of the Guidelines provides authorities in reporting countries with definitions and requirements for reporting the locational banking statistics and consolidated banking statistics to the BIS. They replace the March 2013 version of the reporting guidelines. Compared with the March 2013 version, the main changes in the July 2019 guidelines are as follows. They incorporate the recommendations of the 2017 study group established by the BIS, as well as the clarifications and revisions proposed by the BIS in 2014. In addition, the allocation of counterparty countries to regions was discontinued, and a few reporting requirements were simplified. Furthermore, some details from other documents, in particular the data structure definitions, were integrated into the guidelines; cross-references to other statistical and prudential standards were expanded; and the guidelines were reorganised to improve their readability.
Click here to view the Previous guidelines
Reporting authorities are encouraged to submit the consolidated banking statistics to the BIS using the SDMX standard. The technical guidelines below provide practical information on how to submit data to the BIS.
Codes for submitting the banking statistics are provided in the data structure definitions. In addition, Excel templates are available as a visual aid for data structure, and to assist reporting authorities who are unable to create SDMX files directly from their system in reporting data to the BIS. Summaries of checks - performed by the BIS to confirm the consistency of reported data - are also provided. Reporting authorities are encouraged to implement these checks in their own systems.
- SDMX technical guidelines
- Data structure
- Data template - Locational banking statistics by residence*
- Data template - Locational banking statistics by nationality*
- Data checks
* Visualisation template only - not for reporting use. Authorities should contact the BIS to request a customised template for reporting.
Research and publications
International finance through the lens of BIS statistics: bank exposures and country risk
BIS international banking statistics help understand banks' exposures to country risk events like sovereign defaults, crises, wars, sanctions and natural disasters.
International finance through the lens of BIS statistics: the global reach of currencies
The use of key currencies in international finance far outstrips the issuing jurisdictions' share in global economic activity. The US dollar dominates globally, while the euro, yen and pound sterling have a smaller international footprint.
International finance through the lens of BIS statistics: residence vs nationality
Most international statistics are compiled by residence. BIS statistics also group balance sheets by headquarter country, providing a nationality view.
Bank positions in FX swaps: insights from CLS
A combination of CLS data with BIS statistics shows banks' FX swaps positions alongside the currency mismatches on their balance sheets.
Dollar debt in FX swaps and forwards: huge, missing and growing
FX swaps, forwards and currency swaps create forward dollar payment obligations that do not appear on balance sheets and are missing in standard debt statistics.
Dollar funding of non-US banks through Covid-19
Non-US banks' on-balance sheet dollar liabilities rose in 2020 despite the decline in funding from US and offshore money market funds (MMFs).
Central bank swap lines and cross-border bank flows
This Bulletin traces the use of the swap lines and their impact on global banking positions. In doing so, it highlights the critical role that banks play in international payments, and capital flows more generally.
Global banks' dollar funding needs and central bank swap lines
During the Great Financial Crisis (GFC), the Federal Reserve set up swap lines with other central banks to defuse an acute US dollar shortage among global banks.
The geography of dollar funding of non-US banks
FX swaps and forwards: missing global debt?
What would balance sheets look like if the borrowing through FX swaps and forwards were recorded on-balance sheet, as the functionally equivalent repo debt is? We combine various data sources to estimate the size, distribution and use of this "missing" debt and to begin to assess its implications for financial stability. A key finding is that non-banks outside the United States owe large sums of dollars off-balance sheet through these instruments. The total is of a size similar to, and probably exceeding, the $10.7 trillion of on-balance sheet dollar debt. Even when this debt is used to ...
The shifting drivers of global liquidity
The post-crisis period has seen a considerable shift in the composition and drivers of international bank lending and international bond issuance, the two main components of global liquidity.
The dollar, bank leverage and the deviation from covered interest parity
We document the triangular relationship formed by the strength of the US dollar, cross-border bank lending in dollars and deviations from covered interest parity (CIP).
Covered interest parity lost: understanding the cross-currency basis
Covered interest parity verges on a physical law in international finance. And yet it has been systematically violated since the Great Financial Crisis. Especially puzzling have been the violations since 2014, even once banks had strengthened their balance sheets and regained easy access to funding. We offer a framework to think about these violations, stressing the ...
Global dollar credit: links to US monetary policy and leverage
Banks and bond investors have extended $9 trillion of US dollar credit to non-bank borrowers outside the United States. This has relevance for the discussion of global liquidity and global monetary policy transmission. This paper contributes to this policy discussion by analysing the links between US monetary policy, including unconventional monetary policy, leverage and flows into bond funds, on the one hand, and dollar credit extended to non-US borrowers, on the other. We find that prior to the crisis, banks drew on low funding rates and low-cost leverage to extend dollar credit to non-US orrowers. After the Federal Reserve announced its large-scale bond purchases in 2008, however, bond investors responded to compressed long-term rates by buying dollar bonds from non-US borrowers. The balance of dollar credit transmission has shifted from global banks to global bond investors.
European banks' US dollar funding pressures
With major central banks having re-established temporary foreign exchange swap facilities to alleviate growing strains in short-term funding markets, European banks' US dollar funding patterns are back in the news.
The US dollar shortage in global banking and the international policy response
Among the policy responses to the global financial crisis, the international provision of US dollars via central bank swap lines stands out.
The US dollar shortage in global banking
Understanding the global financial crisis and the stresses on bank balance sheets requires a perspective on banks' international investment positions and how these positions were funded across currencies and counterparties.
Cross-border financial centres
Financial centres that cater predominantly to non-residents – which we refer to as cross-border financial centres (XFCs) – are important intermediaries of cross-border financial flows.
Bilateral International Investments: the Big Sur?
This paper presents novel stylized facts about the rise of the South in global finance using country-to-country data.
International banking amidst Covid-19: resilience and drivers
The claims of international banks held up well during the Covid-19 crisis, although economic output fell by even more than during the Great Financial Crisis (GFC).
International dimensions of EME corporate debt
International credit can be fickle and subject to sudden stops during periods of global economic stress.
How does the interaction of macroprudential and monetary policies affect cross-border bank lending?
We combine a rarely accessed BIS database on bilateral cross-border lending flows with cross-country data on macroprudential regulations.
Emerging markets' reliance on foreign bank credit
This article examines the importance of foreign banks in the provision of credit to emerging market borrowers. It documents this along two dimensions: the share of total credit provided and the concentration of claims from different foreign banking systems. The share of credit from foreign banks in total credit to emerging market economies has fallen since the Great Financial Crisis, but still stands at 15-20% on average, with the remainder provided by domestic banks or non-bank creditors. ...
Following the imprint of the ECB's asset purchase programme on global bond and deposit flows
We trace the imprint of the ECB's expanded asset purchase programme (APP) on international bond portfolios and euro-denominated deposits. Our analysis suggests that non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) located outside the euro area sold large volumes of euro area government bonds and kept a substantial fraction of the proceeds as euro-denominated deposits, primarily in UK-resident banks. ...
The growing footprint of EME banks in the international banking system
This special feature explores the role of banks from emerging market economies (EMEs) in global banking. Over the past decade, the cross-border activity of EME banks has been growing at a faster pace than that of banks from advanced economies. This has been largely driven by increasing EME-to-EME interlinkages, which often make up more than half of EMEs' cross-border borrowing. EME banks make use of their global networks of affiliates abroad for the majority of their cross-border lending to other EMEs. In the cross-border interbank market, EMEs with more developed banking systems tend to be net recipients of funds, whereas EMEs with less developed ones tend to be net providers. ...
Gross capital flows by banks, corporates and sovereigns
We construct a new data set of quarterly international capital flows by sector, with an emphasis on debt flows.
Transmission of monetary policy through global banks: whose policy matters?
This paper explores the basic question of whose monetary policy matters for banks' international lending.
Gauging procyclicality and financial vulnerability in Asia through the BIS banking and financial statistics
We look back at past episodes of financial stress in Asia with a forward-looking perspective.
US monetary policy and fluctuations of international bank lending
There is no consensus in the empirical literature on the direction in which U.S. monetary policy affects cross-border bank lending.
Common lenders in emerging Asia: their changing roles in three crises
The "common lender channel" is a mechanism that facilitates the spread of financial shocks around the globe. Creditor banks withdraw from previously unaffected countries when highly exposed to the epicentre of a crisis. At the time of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Japanese banks dominated lending to emerging Asia. ...
The dollar exchange rate as a global risk factor: evidence from investment
Exchange rate fluctuations influence economic activity not only via the standard trade channel, but also through a financial channel, which operates through the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on borrowers' balance sheets and lenders' risk-taking capacity.
The Distance Effect in Banking and Trade
The empirical gravity literature finds geographical distance to be a large and growing obstacle to trade, contradicting the popular notion that globalization heralds "the end of geography".
Supply- and demand-side factors in global banking
What is the role for supply and demand forces in determining movements in international banking flows?
External debt composition and domestic credit cycles
We assess the role of external debt in shaping the dynamics of domestic credit cycles.
Foreign banks and credit conditions in EMEs
A large literature assesses the benefits that foreign banks bring to emerging market economies (EMEs), drawing evidence from datasets that track the ownership of banks located in a particular country.
The currency dimension of the bank lending channel in international monetary transmission
We investigate how the use of a currency transmits monetary policy shocks in the global banking system.
Dollar credit to emerging market economies
We profile the US dollar debt incurred by borrowers in a dozen prominent emerging market economies (EMEs). These countries account for the bulk of total US dollar debt owed by EMEs. We measure the dollar borrowing of non-banks resident in these economies as well as that of their affiliates offshore, and relate these items to commonly used debt measures. We also discuss the limitations of our data. These data fail to ...
Rapid credit growth and international credit: challenges for Asia
Global credit and domestic credit booms
US dollar credit is growing quickly outside the United States, especially in Asia, and in some economies it has outpaced overall credit growth. Cross-border sources of credit bear watching in view of their record of outgrowing overall credit in credit booms. Foreign currency and cross-border sources of credit raise policy issues.
Bank health and lending to emerging markets
Over the past decade, many emerging markets have increased their dependence on credit from foreign banks.
Bank funding: evolution, stability and the role of foreign offices
The Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have furthered a sustained retreat from global banking.
The outsize role of cross-border financial centres
Financial centres that cater predominantly to non-residents account for an outsize share of cross-border financial activity. These so-called cross-border financial centres are typically located in small economies, in contrast to global financial centres located in large economies. Economies of scale and scope benefit global centres, but physical distance works against the tendency of financial activity to concentrate. So do regulation and taxation, which have set cross-border financial centres apart and propelled their rise. At the same time, these centres pose challenges to regulatory consistency across countries and complicate the analysis of capital flows.
Global banks' local presence: a new lens
In this feature, the authors examine a new dataset on global banks' foreign branches and subsidiaries. They find that branches, which facilitate especially international corporate banking, have grown relative to locally focused subsidiaries. Branches are riskier for host countries, and authorities, particularly in advanced economies, seem to have tightened control over them.
Seven decades of international banking
This Special Feature finds that regulatory arbitrage, financial liberalisation and financial innovation drove a multi-decade expansion of international banking, which peaked at over 60% of world GDP before the Great Financial Crisis.
Banking across borders: Are Chinese banks different?
We explore the global footprint of Chinese banks and compare it with that of other bank nationalities.
Cross-border links between banks and non-bank financial institutions
Cross-border links between banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) gained momentum in recent years.
Home sweet host: Prudential and monetary policy spillovers through global banks
Prudential regulation of banks is multi-layered: policy changes by home-country authorities affect banks' global operations across many jurisdictions; changes by host-country authorities shape banks' operations in the host jurisdiction regardless of the nationality of the parent bank.
Tracking the international footprints of global firms
As the global economy becomes more integrated, there is a growing tension between the nature of economic activity and the measurement system that attempts to keep up with it. Many policies are still determined by measuring economic activity at the national level. ...
Financial deglobalisation in banking?
This paper argues that the decline in cross-border banking since 2007 does not amount to a broad-based retreat in international lending ("financial deglobalisation").
International prudential policy spillovers: a global perspective
We combine the BIS international banking statistics with the IBRN prudential instruments database in a global study analyzing the effect of prudential measures on international lending.
The resilience of banks' international operations
This feature explores the resilience of banks' balance sheets after the 2008-09 financial crisis through the lens of a unique global data set crossing bank nationality and host country. We start by documenting post-crisis changes in the structure of BIS reporting banks' global operations across bank nationalities. We then zero in on the funding mix of banks' foreign affiliates (branches and subsidiaries) on the eve of the crisis, and how it ...
Non-US banks' claims on the Federal Reserve
Non-US banks' affiliates in the United States took on about half of the claims on the Fed that it created to pay for its large-scale bond purchases. They did so largely through uninsured branches that were not subject a new FDIC charge on wholesale funding payable by US-chartered banks.
The architecture of global banking: from international to multinational?
The financial crisis has led to a reconsideration of banks' global business models.
International banking centres: a network perspective
International banking centres have attracted renewed interest recently, as established centres compete over more dimensions while new centres emerge.
International finance through the lens of BIS statistics: the global reach of currencies
The use of key currencies in international finance far outstrips the issuing jurisdictions' share in global economic activity. The US dollar dominates globally, while the euro, yen and pound sterling have a smaller international footprint.
International finance through the lens of BIS statistics: residence vs nationality
Most international statistics are compiled by residence. BIS statistics also group balance sheets by headquarter country, providing a nationality view.
Unpacking international banks' deposit funding
This feature examines international banks' deposit funding – traditional deposits, repos and interbank lending. We lay out a framework to interpret the observed evolution in the level and composition of this funding.
Seven decades of international banking
This Special Feature finds that regulatory arbitrage, financial liberalisation and financial innovation drove a multi-decade expansion of international banking, which peaked at over 60% of world GDP before the Great Financial Crisis.
Using mirror data to track international banking
Recent enhancements to the BIS international banking statistics have led to improvements in data quality and coverage, with more information available about the instrument type, counterparty country by bank nationality and counterparty sector of banks' international positions.
Non-bank counterparties in international banking
The BIS has expanded the details that it publishes about banks' balance sheet linkages with non-bank counterparties. These additional details show that banks have increasingly large positions vis-à-vis the non-bank financial sector. ...
Measuring contagion risk in international banking
We propose a distress measure for national banking systems that incorporates not only banks' CDS spreads, but also how they interact with the rest of the global financial system via multiple linkage types.
Concentration in cross-border banking
Cross-border bank credit is dominated by a small number of very sizeable links between banks in one country and borrowers in another. The largest-sized cross-border banking links are mainly between major advanced economies. Concentration increased up until the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) and has abated only slightly since. It is higher for interbank credit than for credit to the non-bank sector. Despite the substantial decline in interbank credit in the aftermath of the GFC, concentration in the interbank segment has remained high. ...
Risk transfers in international banking
Credit risk transfers shift a bank's country exposures from one counterparty country to another. Risk transfer patterns can shed light on how creditor banking systems assess and manage credit risks across counterparty countries. These patterns are closely linked to the business models and international footprint of global banks and corporates. Global banks have taken on more credit risks vis-à-vis some major emerging market economies - in particular in Asia. This points both to the enlarged international footprint of corporates and banks from these countries, and to the ...
Recent enhancements to the BIS statistics
The BIS regularly seeks to enhance its statistical offerings to support monetary and financial stability analysis, in close coordination with central banks and other national authorities and international organisations. The exposure of economies to foreign currency risk is one potential source of vulnerability that has received increased attention in recent years, and the relevant data gaps are being addressed in the second phase of the Data Gaps Initiative (DGI) endorsed by the G20 (BIS-FSB-IMF (2015), FSB-IMF (2017)). Concurrently with this issue of the Quarterly Review, the BIS is expanding the data it publishes on exchange rates, on the currency composition of cross-border positions and on ...
Recent enhancements to the BIS statistics
Enhanced data to analyse international banking
The BIS international banking statistics have evolved over time in response to changes in the international financial system. The latest enhancements to these statistics introduce information about banks' domestic business and add more details about the ...
The BIS global liquidity indicators
The term global liquidity is used in a variety of ways.
Assessing global liquidity
Global liquidity has become a key focus of international policy debates over recent years. The concept of global liquidity, however continues to be used in a variety of ways and this ambiguity can lead to potentially undesirable policy responses. This feature attempts to further the understanding of the global liquidity concept, its measurement and policy implications. It argues that policy responses to global liquidity call for a consistent framework that considers all phases of global liquidity cycles, countering both surges and shortages.
Bank structure, funding risk and the transmission of shocks across countries: concepts and measurement
This article outlines a broad framework for assessing system-wide funding risks and analysing banks' role in the transmission of shocks across countries.
Global monitoring with the BIS international banking statistics
This paper illustrates various applications of the BIS international banking statistics.
Tracking international bank flows
Activity in the international banking market has grown in recent years, both in absolute terms and relative to aggregate measures of economic activity and liquidity.
The BIS consolidated banking statistics: structure, uses and recent enhancements
The BIS consolidated banking statistics have been expanded to better capture banks' country risk exposures.
Do syndicated credits anticipate BIS consolidated banking data?
In this article we compare the two data sets, adjusting for conceptual and practical differences.
Glossary
FAQs
Data are released every quarter. The target publication dates and the latest data reference period are listed in the Statistics release calendar.
The locational banking statistics are collected under the auspices of the Committee on the Global Financial System and in cooperation with the central banks and other national authorities worldwide. The data are reported to the BIS at a country- rather than individual bank- level. Reporting banks submit data to an official authority in their country, usually the central banks, which then aggregates the data and submits country-level aggregates to the BIS for global aggregations, analysis and publication.
Participating jurisdictions are listed in the following link: Reporting countries.
The most important difference between the LBS and the CBS is the level of consolidation by reporting banks. The LBS are compiled on an unconsolidated basis, whereby the positions (including intragroup positions) of all banks located in a particular reporting country are aggregated following balance of payments principles. By contrast, the CBS are compiled on a consolidated group basis, and thus track the worldwide consolidated positions (excluding intragroup positions) of banks with a controlling parent in a particular reporting country.
Go to Table A5 (locational banking statistics), which shows the data according to the location of the reporting bank. If you select a reporting country, for example Australia, this will open a table showing the lending ("Claims") and borrowing ("Liabilities") reported by banks located in Australia (regardless of the nationality of their parent bank). You can then view the "Claims" column to answer the above question.
Go to Table A6.2 (locational banking statistics), which shows the data according to the location of the borrower. You can select a counterparty country (borrower country), for example the United States. This will open a table showing both the cross-border lending to the United States ("Claims") and cross-border borrowing from the United States ("Liabilities") reported by banks located in the BIS reporting area. To answer the above question, look at the "Claims" column.
Reporting authorities may submit revised data, including revised confidentiality codes, at any time during a quarter. Revisions will be incorporated in the next scheduled publication as listed in the Statistics release calendar.