International Comparison of the BIS International Banking Statistics: Estimates of the Positions Excluding Trustee Business

The BIS international banking statistics (IBS) are statistics that the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and central banks worldwide compile in order to capture capital flows and credit exposures through internationally active banks. It is worth noting that the IBS reported by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) include trust accounts in which a bank holds and manages funds or securities on behalf of third parties. Attention should therefore be paid for international comparative analysis of the Japan's statistics and those of other major reporting countries which exclude trustee business. This paper attempts to provide an estimate of the IBS in Japan which exclude trust-account-based positions, and compare the results with the IBS of banks of other major nationalities. The results show that, while Japanese banks have been increasing their foreign claims in recent years, the ratio of foreign claims to the outstanding amount of total assets is not significantly high compared to banks of other major nationalities. Moreover, claims vis-à-vis the United States are demonstrated to account for a relatively high share of foreign claims, which lead to a high share of U.S. dollar-denominated claims held by Japanese banks.