Bank lending again key vehicle to global liquidity - BIS

    International lending by major banks has resumed its role as a key vehicle for global liquidity as banking activity in advanced economies starts to revive while lending to emerging market economies, particularly Asia, continues to grow at a brisk, according to the influential Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
    The revival of international bank lending following the global financial crises is occurring alongside persistently high level of global bond market issuance, with some countries seeing rapid credit growth that is characteristic of the late stage of financial cycles, BIS said in its quarterly review for March 2015.
    Cross-border lending to all borrowers, i.e. banks and non-banks, in advanced economies grew 3 percent in the first nine months of 2014 while lending to emerging market economies grew by an annual rate of 11 percent.
    Outstanding international claims on advanced economies have thus reached $21.1 trillion in  September 2014, still below the $28.4 trillion reached in the first quarter of 2008.
    But claims on emerging markets have risen to $3.9 trillion by September, well above the pre-crises level of $2.7 trillion seen in the first quarter of 2008, BIS said.
    U.S. dollar lending to the non-financial sector outside the United States has also risen strongly in 2014, outpacing credit to non-residents through international debt securities, pointing to the ongoing revival of activity by globally active banks.
    Credit in U.S. dollars to non-financial borrowers outside the United States rose 9 percent to $7.3 trillion as of September 2014 while bank loans to non-U.S., non-financial borrowers rose 9.7 percent to $4.9 trillion credit in U.S. dollars and securities issued by these rose 8.6 percent to $2.4 trillion.

    The March 2015 quarterly review by the Bank for International Settlements can be accessed by clicking on this link.

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