According to the statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, the portion of international business in the local banking sector remained high. At end-March 2009, the share of international assets in total banking assets dropped slightly to 82.7% from 83.1% at end-2008, while the share of international liabilities in total liabilities edged up to 76.7% from 76.1%.

Foreign currencies remained as the dominant denomination in international banking transactions. At end-March 2009, the shares of Pataca (MOP) in total international assets and total international liabilities were 0.6% and 2.7% respectively. Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) and Other Foreign Currencies (OFCs) accounted for 49.6% and 49.8% of total international assets respectively. On international liabilities, HKD had a share of 54.8% while OFCs accounted for 42.5%.

International Banking Assets

At end-March 2009, total international assets increased 4.0% quarter-to-quarter and 2.2% year-on-year to MOP310.8 billion (USD38.9 billion). Within this total, external assets decreased year-on-year by 2.2% to MOP232.2 billion while local assets in foreign currencies rose 17.8% to MOP78.7 billion. As a major component of international assets, other external assets shrank by 1.3% over a year earlier to MOP140.6 billion mainly attributed to the shrinkage in placements of Macao banks with their overseas affiliates.

International Banking Liabilities

Meanwhile, total international liabilities grew by 5.5% quarter-to-quarter but dropped by 0.3% year-on-year to MOP288.4 billion (USD36.1 billion). Of this total, external liabilities and local liabilities in foreign currencies amounted to MOP134.5 billion and MOP154.0 billion respectively. Compared with a year earlier, the former declined by 7.1% while the latter rose 6.6%. Foreign currency deposits held by residents in the local banking system formed a major component of international liabilities. This type of deposits grew by 4.1% to MOP146.1 billion from MOP140.4 billion at end-2008.

Breakdown of External Banking Assets and Liabilities by Region

The majority of external assets and liabilities were related to the regions of Asia and Europe. At end-March 2009, claims on Hong Kong and Mainland China occupied respectively 41.2% and 5.1% of total external assets, while claims on Portugal, France and Germany took up respective shares of 17.1%, 2.3% and 1.8%. On external liabilities, Hong Kong and China occupied 41.7% and 13.9% of the total while France, Portugal and Germany took up respective shares of 13.4%, 8.4% and 2.2%.

The compilation of International Banking Statistics follows the methodology advocated by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in order to facilitate Macao SAR’s participation in the “Locational International Banking Statistics” project of the BIS.