Provisional international banking statistics, fourth quarter 2009

Statistical commentary on provisional locational and consolidated banking statistics at end-December 2009 (PDF, 14 pages, 75 kb)

Triggered by a contraction in lending to both banks and non-banks in developed countries (-2.2%), banks' external claims in exchange-rate adjusted terms continued to fall (-1.3%, or $385 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2009, extending four consecutive quarterly declines in cross-border activity. However, claims on emerging economies and on offshore centres picked up in the quarter under review and banks' foreign currency claims on residents increased for the first time in a year.

Outstanding consolidated international claims (which exclude inter-office business) fell by $525 billion compared with the previous quarter, a fifth of this being driven by the exchange rate depreciation of claims in euros and yen. Local claims in local currency of banks' foreign offices also dropped, by $227 billion (exchange rate adjusted), in the fourth quarter. On an ultimate risk basis, which takes into account net risk transfers across borrowing countries, the contraction in lending reduced the interbank credit share in total foreign claims, while the shares of lending to the public and non-bank sectors expanded slightly. Other exposures, of which derivatives, also declined significantly at the end of December.

Data for the fourth quarter of 2009 are provisional. Final data, with a detailed analysis of the recent trends, will be published in the forthcoming BIS Quarterly Review to be released on 14 June 2010.