Provisional international banking statistics, second quarter 2010

Statistical commentary on provisional locational and consolidated banking statistics at end-June 2010 (PDF, 14 pages, 81 kb)

Against a background of high volatility in financial markets and worries about fiscal positions in some euro area countries, external banking activity came to a standstill in aggregate in the second quarter of 2010 after a 2% recovery in the previous quarter. While external  loans to banks in emerging economies continued to grow,  loans to non-banks there decreased. A 4% decline in local claims in foreign currency in developed countries was largely balanced by an increase in such claims in both offshore centres (+8%) and emerging economies (+9%). 

Consolidated international claims were down slightly in the second quarter of 2010 (-1%). Local claims of banks' foreign offices (which are reported only in the consolidated statistics) were quite buoyant, however, increasing by +2%. On an ultimate risk basis, which adjusts for net risk transfers across borrowing countries, there were shifts in exposure to the bank sector in a number of countries. Bank guarantees, which include credit default swaps, fell by 5%, their eighth consecutive quarterly decline.

Data for the second quarter of 2010 are provisional. Final data, with a detailed analysis of recent trends, will be published in the forthcoming BIS Quarterly Review, to be released on 13 December 2010.