The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is based in Basel, Switzerland, with representative offices in Hong Kong and Mexico City. The mission of the BIS is to serve central banks in their pursuit of monetary and financial stability, to foster international co-operation in those areas and to act as a bank for central banks. Established on 17 May 1930, the BIS is the world’s oldest international financial organisation. Under the Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS), the BIS started collecting international banking statistics in the 1960s and with each subsequent financial crisis, data gaps prompted refinements. Over the years, a concerted effort was made to improve the timeliness, frequency, soundness and coverage of cross-border positions. The number of reporting countries increased and, as of the second half of 2012, the Locational Banking Statistics (LBS) initiative was covering the activities of some 7 700 banking entities from 44 countries.Because of the regional influence and the importance of cross-border banking activity in South Africa, the BIS approached the South African Reserve Bank to participate in the LBS group of reporting countries. In September 2009 South Africa became the forty-third member country providing LBS data to the BIS. Initially, only banks with significant cross-border and foreign currency positions supplied data; but from the beginning of 2012, changes to the Regulations Relating to Banks ensured that the LBS reporting became compulsory for all resident banks located within the borders of South Africa.