Changes to country groupings for International Banking Statistics

The Bank of England publishes data on the external business of monetary financial institutions (MFIs) operating in the UK and consolidated worldwide claims of UK-owned MFIs. These publications currently aggregate counterparty countries into three groups: Developed countries, Offshore Financial Centres, and Developing countries. Published tables (C3.1, C3.2, C3.4, and C4.2) and statistical releases External business of Monetary Financial Institutions operating in the UK - 2024 Q3; Consolidated worldwide claims - 2024 Q2 have focused on the economic activity within these groupings. 

These breakdowns were set up to align with the grouping used by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in their published reports. The BIS has since moved away from this approach, reclassifying countries into just two categories: Advanced Economies (AEs) and Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs). Countries previously classified as Offshore Financial Centres will be reclassified as EMDEs unless they are overseas or dependent territories of the AEs, in which case these overseas and dependent territories along with those for existing Developed countries will be classified as AEs, as outlined in the BIS country grouping convention. 

The Bank intends to align our publication approach with that of the BIS such that our published materials aggregate counterparty countries into the two categories of AEs and EMDEs, following the BIS country grouping convention. The Bank intends to implement this change for our publications of 2025 Q1 data going forward, scheduled for publication on 6 June 2025 and 20 June 2025 for our external business of UK MFIs and consolidated worldwide claims statistical releases respectively. The changes will be implemented going back to September 1997, and the legacy series using the old country groups will not be maintained. This will affect both our published tables, statistical releases, and data available on Our Database. 

As part of these changes, a review has been undertaken of the individual countries and grouped countries listed in our published tables (C3.2 and C4.2). The grouped countries ‘West Indies UK’ (1Z) and ‘British Overseas Territories’ (1W) were not considered to provide meaningful information: the countries included in each group were not consistent with the definition of the group, and most of them have minimal liabilities and assets positions. Hence, these two groups will be discontinued from the published data and those countries with notable positions will be included in the individual country breakdown in the published tables. Countries included in ‘British Overseas Territories’ (1W) have been classified as AEs to be consistent with the current BIS classification. Similarly, French overseas and dependent territories currently classified to Developing Countries will be reclassified as AEs.

Only individual countries considered to have material positions compared to other countries in their respective country group region are shown in the published tables. This has resulted in a small number of countries either being added to or removed from these published tables. British Virgin Islands is now listed individually under AEs, and Greenland is now included as part of ‘Other’ under AEs rather than listed individually. 

Annex A provides the new country group locations for those countries currently residing in the Offshore Financial Centres country group, as well as new country group locations for ‘British Overseas Territories’ (1W) and those French overseas and dependent territories currently classified to Developing countries. Annex B contained in the attached document to this article provides information on the specific series affected by the changes outlined above. The attached document identifies those series that are being discontinued, those series where Offshore Financial Centres countries are now included, and those series where overseas and dependent countries are now included to be consistent with the BIS classification.

Additionally, the Bank is looking to update the series in Table C3.1 on assets and liabilities by nationality of the reporting institution and any corresponding series in Our Database. From 6 June 2025, the Bank will discontinue separately identifying Swiss, Italian and German nationality banks and instead provide series breaking down the nationality of the reporting institution by “UK”, “American, “Japanese”, “European”, and “Other”. 

If you have any questions about these changes, please contact us at dsd_ibs@bankofengland.co.uk.