EXPOSURE: At the end of June, banks had extended US$79.11bn in loans to the US on a direct-risk basis, and US$45.2bn to China, Taiwan’s No. 2 debtor

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 30, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The US remained Taiwan’s largest debtor as of the end of June, with the local banking sector’s exposure to US entities on the rise, despite trade tensions between the US and China, the central bank said.

Outstanding claims by Taiwanese banks from the US totaled US$79.11 billion on a direct-risk basis, up from US$74.21 billion at the end of March, data compiled by the central bank showed.

On an ultimate-risk basis, which calculates a country’s consolidated debts after risk transfers, Taiwanese banks’ exposure to the US stood at US$74.92 billion, up from US$71.61 billion in the first quarter.

The increase largely reflected the foreign-exchange fluctuations during the three-month period, as well as Taiwanese investors’ steady investments in bonds and securitized financial instruments, analysts said.    [FULL  STORY]