Country Exposure Lending Survey

The country exposure lending survey is a quarterly survey that breaks down all lending by U.S. bank institutions to foreign sources according to various categories. It is also known as the FFIEC 009 report. The country exposure lending survey is designed to provide quick insight into where U.S. lenders are willing to send their money overseas.

The country exposure lending survey is issued on a quarterly basis and is required for bank institutions that lend money internationally. The survey ranks borrowers by loan type, such as whether the loan is public or private, as well as by maturity, geographic location and currency. The report provides this information on loans to over 190 countries and is broken down by country and region. The loans may be issued by U.S. banks, savings associations, bank holding companies, savings and loan holding companies, and intermediate holding companies.

The survey began in 1977 and was known as the FR 2036 report. Then, in 1984, it became designated as a Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) report and was renamed the FFIEC 009. It has been revised over the years to provide more details and to add items. The FFIEC was formed in the 1970s to create consistent principles, standards and report forms for the federal examination of U.S. financial institutions.

The FFIEC 009 report consists of four schedules; one of these schedules contains two parts. The schedules deal with the following: claims on immediate risk basis, claims on ultimate risk basis and memorandum items, foreign-office liabilities, off-balance-sheet items and claims from positions in derivatives contracts. The individual reports are confidential; however, the total data, and not the specific activities of individual banks, are not confidential and are made public.

The data collected in the survey also indicate credit and related risks such as country risk. There is a supplement report (FFIEC 009.a) that must be filed to provide specific information about the institutions’ exposures in certain countries. Each report must be signed and certified by an executive officer of the institution reporting the loans.