International banking statistics at end-December 2013

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) today released international banking statistics at end-December 2013.

• The cross-border claims of BIS reporting banks contracted by $93 billion (0.3%) between end-September and end-December 2013. Claims on banking offices as well as non-bank entities fell. While this was the seventh consecutive quarterly reduction in cross-border claims, the pace of decline was slower than in the preceding two quarters.
• Euro-denominated claims contracted by $325 billion (3.3%) between end-September and end-December 2013. By contrast, claims in US dollars and in Japanese yen grew by $49 billion (0.4%) and by $62 billion (5.3%), respectively.
• Cross-border lending to emerging market economies rose by $95 billion (2.7%) in Q4 2013. The expansion was mainly concentrated in emerging Asia, and China in particular ($85 billion or 11%).

Developments in the latest international banking statistics, including breaks in series arising from methodological changes, are summarised in the Statistical release. Data are available on the BIS website, via the BIS WebStats query tool, or as tables in PDF. Data are subject to change; revised data will be released in conjunction with the forthcoming BIS Quarterly Review on 2 June 2014. Data at end-March 2014 will be released on or before 24 July 2014.

Queries regarding the international banking statistics may be directed to statistics@bis.org.