Bank for international Settlements

Preliminary international banking statistics, third quarter 2011

January 2012

Statistical commentary on preliminary locational and consolidated banking statistics at end-September 2011 (PDF, 14 pages, 193 kb) and preliminary detailed annex tables (114 pages, 716 kb)

Locational and consolidated banking statistics as at end-September 2011, preliminary data in PDF format, CSV files and the BIS WebStats interactive query tool

In the third quarter of 2011, after adjusting for the effects of the depreciation of most currencies against the US dollar, cross-border claims of BIS reporting banks rebounded by 2.0% following a decline of 0.6% in the previous period, and cross-border liabilities increased by 2.8%. The upsurge in assets was mainly focused on interbank business, which grew by 4.2%, while lending to non-banks contracted by 1.8%. Excepting holdings of securities, which dropped by 3.9%, all other instruments rose on the assets side, and lending in euros increased by 3.8%. Most of the increase was recorded with developed countries and offshore centres, as activity with emerging economies in aggregate was subdued.Reporting banks' international claims on an immediate borrower basis, adjusted for exchange rate movements, increased in the third quarter of 2011 (by 1.4%) after a moderate slowdown of 0.3% in the previous quarter. Local claims in local currency also rose, by 1.3%.

On an ultimate risk basis, which adjusts for net risk transfers across borrowing countries and sectors (but not for exchange rate changes), banks' consolidated foreign claims slowed down by 2.7%, in particular visà-vis the non-bank private sector (-3.9%). Due to the decrease in long term interest rates and the appreciation of the US dollar against almost all currencies during the third quarter, as well as to better liquidity in the market, other exposures resulting from derivatives contracts, excluding credit derivatives, grew by $1.2 trillion after an increase of $800 billion in guarantees in the second quarter.

Data for the third quarter of 2011 are preliminary. Final data, with a detailed analysis of recent trends, will be published in the forthcoming BIS Quarterly Review, to be released on 12 March 2012.