Under the auspices of the Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS) and in cooperation with central banks and other national authorities worldwide, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) compiles and publishes statistics on the international business of banks. The BIS international banking statistics (IBS) comprise two data sets:
- The locational banking statistics (LBS), which provide information about the currency composition of banks’ balance sheets and the geographical distribution of their counterparties. The LBS capture the outstanding financial assets and liabilities of internationally active banks located in reporting countries against counterparties residing in more than 200 countries. Banks record their positions on an unconsolidated, standalone basis, including intragroup positions between entities that are part of the same banking group as well as inter-office positions with non-resident branches. The LBS are compiled according to principles and concepts that are consistent with balance of payments (BoP) and international investment position statistics.
- The consolidated banking statistics (CBS), which capture the worldwide consolidated positions of internationally active banking groups headquartered in reporting countries. The CBS include the business of banks’ foreign affiliates but exclude intragroup positions, similarly to the consolidation approach followed by banking supervisors.
The LBS and CBS are reported to the BIS at a country rather than individual bank level. Banks submit data to an official authority in their country, usually the central bank, which then aggregates the data and submits country-level aggregates to the BIS for global aggregations, analysis and publication.
These guidelines provide authorities in reporting countries with definitions and requirements for reporting the LBS and CBS to the BIS. They replace the March 2013 version of the reporting guidelines.