US dollar credit is growing quickly outside the United States, especially in Asia, and in some economies it has outpaced overall credit growth. Cross-border sources of credit bear watching in view of their record of outgrowing overall credit in credit booms. Foreign currency and cross-border...

The financial crisis has led to a reconsideration of banks' global business models. This special feature draws on the BIS banking statistics to distinguish between "international" and "multinational" banks and the implied geographical funding patterns, and to consider how the crisis put these...

Corporates in many EMEs have taken advantage of unusually easy global financial conditions to ramp up their overseas borrowing and leverage. This could expose them to increased interest rate and currency risks unless these positions are adequately hedged. The key question is whether EME...

Non-US banks' affiliates in the United States took on about half of the claims on the Federal Reserve that it created to pay for its large-scale bond purchases. They did so largely through uninsured branches unaffected by a new Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation charge on wholesale funding...

Emerging market sovereign bonds have become an important asset class for portfolio managers. A striking feature of the spreads on these bonds for different countries is that they tend to move in tandem over time. This paper investigates the extent to which these spreads can be explained by just...

The strength of housing markets around the world has helped to cushion the recent slowdown in global economic activity. How long should we expect this to continue? A sample of industrialised countries covering three decades allows us to explore this question through an analysis of major peaks in...

Over the past decade, many emerging markets have increased their dependence on credit from foreign banks. However, the ongoing financial crisis may prompt banks to reassess their exposures to these economies. Panel regression analysis of data since the early 1990s indicates that a deterioration...

Style analysis shows that as market conditions change so do the investment strategies of hedge funds. It also provides a simple indicator of hedge fund leverage that varies over time. The indicator suggests that leverage tended to be high in 1997-98 but lower more recently.

Interest rate differentials have been a driving force behind exchange rate movements in recent years. This has focused market attention on the role of currency carry trade positions, and on the possibility that a sudden unwinding might adversely affect financial stability. However, carry trades...

The BIS consolidated banking statistics have been expanded to better capture banks' country risk exposures. The expanded statistics provide for the first time information about banks' derivatives and contingent exposures, as well as additional details about the reallocation of risk exposures.