Introduction
The origins of BIS activities in the field of international financial statistics go back to the mid-1960s and the emergence of the so-called eurocurrency markets that had sprung up to circumvent domestic regulations. At that time the key policy concern that gave rise to the joint data collection exercise by the central banks of the G10 countries under the aegis of the BIS was the need to monitor the rapid growth of these markets and its possible monetary implications. This led to the introduction of reporting by internationally active banks of their international positions in major individual currencies, with a geographic and partial sectoral breakdown. On the basis of these reports the central banks and the BIS compiled the so-called locational banking statistics for various lending and borrowing countries. In the subsequent years, the issue of recycling the current account surpluses of oil-producing countries shifted emphasis in favour of a more detailed geographical breakdown and of flow data.