Global Banks’ Lending Falls 1.8% in Third Quarter, BIS Reports

Lending by global banks fell by 1.8 percent in the third quarter of 2013, as loans to other banks shrank at the fastest rate in more than a year, the Bank for International Settlements said.

Cross-border claims of banks reporting to the BIS declined by $500 billion to $28.5 trillion in the three months through September 2013, the Basel, Switzerland-based institution said in a report released today. The reduction was driven by a 2.7 percent fall in lending to other banks, extending a five-year slump that has taken out $5.7 trillion of bank funding since 2008, the BIS said.