19-02-2009, 09:17 AM
From a mailing list I am on this information came today from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and what information they have in case any one is interested in digging in to the overseas cash reserves of US companies. I don't have time but some one here may be interested to do so. There is gold there.
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Couple of days ago, I posted a clip from the WSJ.com about Cisco's cash holdings overseas and asked if anyone knew how to get some sort of grasp of the aggregate amount. I directed the same inquiry to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis today and got this answer back within 3 hours [ the US BEA people and the EIA people are incredibly responsive-- call them on the phone and they are positively elated to talk to you and answer your questions]. Well, I plan to do a little mining here and see how much of those foreign reserves held by central banks in China, Russia, Brazil etc. might actually be based on US cash reserves held abroad:
Dear Mr. S*****: The short answer to your question as it concerns any specific U.S. company is no. U.S. law forbids the disclosure of any data collected by BEA on individual companies. However, in the aggregate, data are reported on all U.S. residents' claims on foreigners in the form of depository receipts and other types of assets. Please see Table 9a. Claims on and Liabilities to Unaffiliated Foreigners Reported by U.S. Nonbanking Concerns Except Securities Brokers and Table 10a. Claims on Foreigners Reported by U.S. Banks and Securities Brokers . These tables are on the BEA website under the subheading International, Balance of Payments, Interactive tables: Detailed Estimates. If a foreign affiliate of a U.S. company deposited cash in a foreign bank account, this is not considered as a claim on a foreigner by a U.S. resident and that transaction would not be included in the U.S. Balance of Payments. The cash asset would be included in the balance sheet of the foreign affiliate, and total assets of foreign affiliates by industry by country are also available on the BEA website under Operations of Multinational Companies, Financial and Operating Data, Interactive Tables.
Thank you for your inquiry.
Sincerely, John Rutter
Balance of Payments Division Bureau of Economic Analysis
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Couple of days ago, I posted a clip from the WSJ.com about Cisco's cash holdings overseas and asked if anyone knew how to get some sort of grasp of the aggregate amount. I directed the same inquiry to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis today and got this answer back within 3 hours [ the US BEA people and the EIA people are incredibly responsive-- call them on the phone and they are positively elated to talk to you and answer your questions]. Well, I plan to do a little mining here and see how much of those foreign reserves held by central banks in China, Russia, Brazil etc. might actually be based on US cash reserves held abroad:
Dear Mr. S*****: The short answer to your question as it concerns any specific U.S. company is no. U.S. law forbids the disclosure of any data collected by BEA on individual companies. However, in the aggregate, data are reported on all U.S. residents' claims on foreigners in the form of depository receipts and other types of assets. Please see Table 9a. Claims on and Liabilities to Unaffiliated Foreigners Reported by U.S. Nonbanking Concerns Except Securities Brokers and Table 10a. Claims on Foreigners Reported by U.S. Banks and Securities Brokers . These tables are on the BEA website under the subheading International, Balance of Payments, Interactive tables: Detailed Estimates. If a foreign affiliate of a U.S. company deposited cash in a foreign bank account, this is not considered as a claim on a foreigner by a U.S. resident and that transaction would not be included in the U.S. Balance of Payments. The cash asset would be included in the balance sheet of the foreign affiliate, and total assets of foreign affiliates by industry by country are also available on the BEA website under Operations of Multinational Companies, Financial and Operating Data, Interactive Tables.
Thank you for your inquiry.
Sincerely, John Rutter
Balance of Payments Division Bureau of Economic Analysis