US Banks’ International Balance Sheet Linkages: A Data Survey

D'Avino, Carmela (2014): US Banks’ International Balance Sheet Linkages: A Data Survey.

Abstract

International financial linkages are mostly established through banks’ foreign operations. Typically, the larger the balance sheet exposure a bank has to a counterparty country, the more will be both its risk exposure and sensibility to shocks to this latter. The latest crisis has revealed the importance of filling the existing data gaps which hinder a full understanding of the geographical composition of banks’ balance sheet on a global basis. To this extent, the Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS) has recently endorsed significant enhancements to the International Banking Statistics (IBS) collected by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). This paper, by focusing on US banks, reviews existing data on bilateral foreign positions on both an consolidated and unconsolidated basis. The investigation stresses the extent to which the new enhancements are going to enable to a better understanding of the global banking system and discusses other data limitations and gaps which should be addressed. In particular, policy recommendations point to enhanced foreign offices-related statistics.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: US global banks; International financial linkages; Bilateral exposure.
• Subjects: F - International Economics > F3 - International Finance > F33 - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions; F - International Economics > F3 - International Finance > F34 - International Lending and Debt Problems

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