Banks shorten terms of their foreign loans.

BASEL, Switzerland -- Western and Japanese banks, more cautious after economic troubles in recent years, moved further to shorten the terms of their international loans in the second half 1993, the Bank for International Settlements said.

In its latest report on bank lending, the Basel-based confederation for central banks said loans with a maturity of one year or less represented 53.6% of overall lending at yearend, up from 52.4% in mid- 1993 and 50.6% percent at the end of 1992.

The move towards short-term credit was particularly pronounced in loans to Asian countries, where loans of one year or less represented a record 63% at Dec. 31.

The BIS statistics measure lending by banks in the Group of 10 industrial nations as well as Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Spain, to countries outside the BIS reporting area.

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