Consolidated Exposures-Immediate Risk Basis

In March 2003, banks and selected Registered Financial Corporations (RFCs) began reporting their international assets, liabilities and country exposures to APR in ARF/RRF 231 International Exposures. This return is the basis of the data provided by Australia to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) for its International Banking Statistics (IBS) data collection. APR ceased the RFC data collection after September 2010.

The IBS data are based on the methodology described in the BIS Guide on International Financial Statistics (see http://www.bis.org/statistics/intfinstatsguide.pdf; Part II International banking statistics). Data reported for Australia, and other countries, on the BIS website are expressed in United States dollars (USD).

Data are recorded on an end-quarter basis.

All banks operating in Australia complete ARF 231. Between March 2003 and September 2010, only those larger RFCs with sizeable overseas assets and/or liabilities completed RRF 231. Bank and RFC positions are reported in Australian dollars (AUD). Non-AUD denominated positions have been converted to AUD using an appropriate end-quarter exchange rate, so changes in reported data between quarters are due not only to changes in positions but also valuation gains or losses due to exchange rate changes.

There are two sets of IBS data: locational data, which are used to gauge the role of banks and financial centres in the intermediation of international capital flows; and consolidated data, which can be used to monitor the country risk exposure of national banking systems. Only consolidated data are reported in this statistical table.

The data in this statistical table summarise the country exposures of Australian-owned banks (and selected RFCs between March 2003 and September 2010). This is a smaller reporting pool than the series reported in statistical table B11.2, which is based on all banks and RFCs reporting ARF/RRF 231 data. The types of assets included here are consistent with those reported in statistical tables B11.1, B11.2 and B12.1, except that the data are consolidated for Australian-owned reporting entities (i.e. includes the claims on countries of all the offices worldwide of entities with head offices in Australia, but excludes positions between different offices of the same group). Consolidated data only include positions with non-residents (in any currency).

Data are shown for a selected group of countries that account for the bulk of the total. Similar data for other countries are also available in statistical tables B13.1.1 and B13.1.2.

Data presented in this statistical table are immediate risk claims (expressed by the BIS as claims on an immediate borrower basis), which cover exposures on an immediate counterparty location basis. Ultimate risk claims are presented in a complementary statistical table B13.2, which cover immediate exposures adjusted (via guarantees and other risk transfers) to reflect the location of the ultimate counterparty/risk.

In the maturity distribution, the shortest maturity bracket includes deposits that are repayable on demand, overdue items and overdrafts.

aInternational claimsa represent cross-border claims in all currencies and foreign officesa local claims in non-local currencies (which would include, for example, USD claims on New Zealand residents by the New Zealand subsidiary of an Australian-owned bank). Also shown are the local currency claims on local residents by the foreign offices of reporting entities (for example, the New Zealand dollar (NZD) claims on New Zealand residents by the New Zealand subsidiary of an Australian-owned bank). These local currency claims are added to international claims to produce foreign claims.

International organisations are included in the aPublic sectora category in the consolidated data (while in the locational data they can be reported as either bank or non-bank depending on the particular organisation). Official monetary authorities (central banks or similar national and international bodies, such as the BIS) are also included in the public sector in the consolidated data (but are treated as banks in the locational data, B12.1 and B12.2). Publicly-owned entities (other than banks) are classed in the aNon- bank private sectora in the consolidated data (and as non-banks in the locational data).

The aNet risk transfera is mainly due to risk transfers into and out of Australia and typically does not sum to zero. In several cases, risk is transferred out of the countries listed and into Australia hence becoming, in effect, domestic exposures (and reducing foreign claims on an ultimate risk basis). Similarly, the risk associated with what were initially domestic exposures has in several cases been transferred, via guarantees and other risk transfers, to other countries (thereby increasing foreign claims on an ultimate risk basis). The total risk transfer amount is not comparable to the risk transfer amount reported for Australia in the data series of statistical table B11.2 as the former covers only Australian-owned entities while the latter is for all reporting entities.

Derivatives are not included in international claims or foreign claims.