Report of the Working Group on the BIS International Banking Statistics

Summary

Over the years, the Committee on the Global Financial System has been the designated central bank oversight body for the BIS international banking statistics. A guiding presumption of the Committee is that the statistics should be updated from time to time so as to ensure that they remain a key source of public information on international financial market developments. As a result, the Committee has supported initiatives such as the triennial survey of global derivatives markets (first conducted in 1995).

The Committee has also provided impetus for improvements in existing BIS international banking statistics, for example more timely assembly and release of data, a move to quarterly frequency for the consolidated statistics and the compilation of "ultimate risk basis" statistics in the consolidated statistics. Against this background, in autumn 1999 the Committee established a working group with the task of examining the desirability of modifying the BIS banking statistics, most notably so as to capture derivatives exposures, which had expanded in recent years to constitute a significant proportion of banks' total cross-border exposures, and enhance details in the statistics as requested by some official sector users.