Understanding the global financial crisis and the stresses on bank balance sheets requires a perspective on banks’ international investment positions and how these positions were funded across currencies and counterparties. This special feature uses the BIS international banking statistics to...

Managers of official dollar reserves are bound to pay attention to the debate over safe assets: their investment portfolios operationally define such assets. This chapter argues that reserve managers need not worry about a shortage of safe assets. The debate turns first on whether demand for...