Foreign Loans On the Rise
WASHINGTON - U.S. bank's exposure to foreign barrowers rose 3.3% in the first quarter, the Federal Reserve Board said Wednesday.
The March 31 total was $195.61 billion, up from $189.26 billion on Dec. 31.
The figures came from a 155-bank, quarterly survey conducted by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and distributed by the Fed.
Of the loans outstanding on March 31, $130.63 billion had maturities of less than one year, $26.25 billion of one to five years, and $38.72 billion of more than five years. Sixty-three percent of the total, or $124.07 billion, was on the books of the nine largest money-center banks.
Borrowers in Britain had the largest amount outstanding, $27.12 billion, followed by Japan, $19.55 billion; Canada, $9.22 billion; and the British West Indies, an offshore banking center, $8.76 billion.
