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.
Metadata
- Supervising committee
- Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS)
- Seasonal adjustment
- Non seasonally adjusted
- Frequencies
- Quarterly
- Contact
- BIS statistics
- Units
- US dollar
- Next release date
- Last release date
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: the international dimensions of credit
International finance through the lens of BIS statistics: the geography of banks' operations
International finance through the lens of BIS statistics: bank exposures and country risk
International finance through the lens of BIS statistics: the global reach of currencies
International finance through the lens of BIS statistics: residence vs nationality
Bank positions in FX swaps: insights from CLS
Dollar debt in FX swaps and forwards: huge, missing and growing
Dollar funding of non-US banks through Covid-19
Central bank swap lines and cross-border bank flows
Global banks' dollar funding needs and central bank swap lines
The geography of dollar funding of non-US banks
FX swaps and forwards: missing global debt?
The shifting drivers of global liquidity
The dollar, bank leverage and the deviation from covered interest parity
Global dollar credit: links to US monetary policy and leverage
The US dollar shortage in global banking and the international policy response
Chinese banks and their EMDE borrowers: have their relationships changed in times of geoeconomic fragmentation?
Cross-border financial centres
Bilateral International Investments: the Big Sur?
International banking amidst Covid-19: resilience and drivers
International dimensions of EME corporate debt
How does the interaction of macroprudential and monetary policies affect cross-border bank lending?
Emerging markets' reliance on foreign bank credit
Following the imprint of the ECB's asset purchase programme on global bond and deposit flows
The growing footprint of EME banks in the international banking system
Gross capital flows by banks, corporates and sovereigns
Transmission of monetary policy through global banks: whose policy matters?
Gauging procyclicality and financial vulnerability in Asia through the BIS banking and financial statistics
US monetary policy and fluctuations of international bank lending
Common lenders in emerging Asia: their changing roles in three crises
The dollar exchange rate as a global risk factor: evidence from investment
The Distance Effect in Banking and Trade
Supply- and demand-side factors in global banking
External debt composition and domestic credit cycles
Financial systems and the real economy
The currency dimension of the bank lending channel in international monetary transmission
Rapid credit growth and international credit: challenges for Asia
Geopolitics meets monetary policy: decoding their impact on cross-border bank lending
How does fiscal policy affect the transmission of monetary policy into cross-border bank lending? Cross-country evidence
Determinants of currency choice in cross-border bank loans
Bank funding: evolution, stability and the role of foreign offices
The outsize role of cross-border financial centres
Global banks' local presence: a new lens
Seven decades of international banking
Banking across borders: Are Chinese banks different?
Cross-border links between banks and non-bank financial institutions
Home sweet host: Prudential and monetary policy spillovers through global banks
Tracking the international footprints of global firms
Financial deglobalisation in banking?
International prudential policy spillovers: a global perspective
International finance through the lens of BIS statistics: the global reach of currencies
International finance through the lens of BIS statistics: residence vs nationality
Unpacking international banks' deposit funding
Seven decades of international banking
Using mirror data to track international banking
Non-bank counterparties in international banking
Measuring contagion risk in international banking
Concentration in cross-border banking
Risk transfers in international banking
Recent enhancements to the BIS statistics
Indicators to support monetary and financial stability analysis: data sources and statistical methodologies
Global monitoring with the BIS international banking statistics
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.

