BEIJING - China's forex regulator on Tuesday praised an announcement made by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) that it will publish Chinese banking data.

The BIS announced on December 11 that it will now publish Chinese locational banking statistics (LBS), and that it will also publish Chinese banking data on its official website.

The BIS move showed China's statistics on balance of international payments are internationally recognized thanks to continuous improvement on transparency, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said.

The number of LBS reporting countries rose from 44 to 46 after taking in China and Russia.

A total of 12 emerging economies now report the LBS, along with 12 offshore financial centers and 22 advanced economies, according to the BIS.

"The claims and liabilities of domestic and foreign banks located in China and Russia have been included in global aggregates in the LBS since the end of December 2015," the BIS said.

At the end of June 2016, Chinese banks reported outstanding cross-border claims of $778 billion and liabilities of $918 billion, it said.