U.S. Dollar Funding Trend in the January-March Quarter of 2020 as Indicated by the BIS International Banking Statistics

In March 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the fund supply-demand balance for the U.S. dollar became tight globally, causing changes in U.S. dollar-denominated international fund transactions conducted by financial institutions. This article provides an overview of the trend in U.S. dollar-denominated international fund transactions conducted by Japanese financial institutions during this current phase as indicated by the BIS International Banking Statistics (IBS). Data available from the statistics highlighted the following two points: (1) that Japanese banks obtained U.S. dollars from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) through U.S. dollar funds-supplying operations and transferred them to U.S. branches via the inter-office account, and (2) that in the United States: in line with this flow of funds, claims vis-a-vis official sector, including reserve deposits with the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank (FRB), and loans to business corporations (drawdown of committed credit line) increased.