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<.