Statistical release: BIS international banking statistics and global liquidity indicators at end-March 2026
Key takeaways
- Cross-border bank credit rose by 11% year on year at end-March 2026. The expansion was broad-based across instruments and counterparty sectors.
- Bank credit to emerging market and developing economies expanded by $148 billion in Q1 2026, primarily concentrated in Africa and the Middle East and emerging Europe.
- The BIS global liquidity indicators exhibited robust growth in foreign currency credit denominated in US dollars and euros, with the latter expanding at a relatively faster pace.
Cross-border bank credit maintained strong momentum
The BIS locational banking statistics (LBS) reveal that global cross-border bank claims1 rose by $2.1 trillion2 in the first quarter of 2026, on an exchange rate- and break-adjusted basis (Graph 1.A). This brought their total outstanding stock to $47.6 trillion.
Cross-border bank credit rose by $1.7 trillion in Q1 2026, marking an 11% year-on-year increase and sustaining the momentum from 2025 (Graph 1.B, black line). Its outstanding stock reached $39.5 trillion at end-Q1 2026. The expansion was driven by cross-border bank loans and deposits as well as banks cross-border holding of debt securities, which increased by $1.2 trillion and $0.6 trillion, respectively. Both measures recorded strong annual growth rates, at 11% and 12%, respectively (red and blue lines). The annual growth of cross-border bank credit has remained consistently positive for the past five years.
The expansion in cross-border bank credit was broad-based across counterparty sectors.3 Credit to banks rose by $632 billion in Q1 2026 (Graph 2.A, blue bars). This took its annual growth rate to 11% as of end-March 2026, the highest since the onset of Covid-19 (Graph 2.B, blue line). Meanwhile, credit to the non-bank sector rose by $1.1 trillion in Q1 2026 (Graph 2.A). Its year-on-year growth rate positive since Q1 2023 reached 12% as of end-March 2026 (Graph 2.B, red line). Within the non-bank sector, credit to non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) and to the non-financial sector (NFS), expanded by $651 billion and $453 billion, respectively (Graph 2.A, purple bars).
The Q1 2026 expansion in cross-border bank credit to NBFIs was concentrated among a handful of borrowers and lenders. It was mostly directed to borrowers located in the United States ($146 billion), the United Kingdom ($134 billion), the Cayman Islands ($132 billion) and Japan ($64 billion) (Graph 3.A). On the lender side, the largest expansions were reported by banks in the United Kingdom ($236 billion), the United States ($220 billion) and Germany ($123 billion) (Graph 3.B).
The increase in cross-border bank credit in Q1 2026 was primarily denominated in US dollars and euros (Graph 4.A). US dollar credit grew by $793 billion, while euro credit rose by $597 billion. The latest quarterly expansions were the largest for both the US dollar and euro since the onset of Covid-19, with annual growth rates standing at 12% and 11%, respectively (Graph 4.B).
The expansion in cross-border bank credit to emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs)4 in Q1 2026 was largely concentrated in two regions: Africa and the Middle East (AME) and emerging Europe (EM Europe). Of the total $148 billion increase in cross-border credit to EMDEs, AME received $74 billion, while EM Europe received $55 billion (Graph 5.A). The majority of the increase in cross-border bank credit to AME was directed towards borrowers in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar (Graph 5.B). Meanwhile, the increase in cross-border credit to EM Europe was broad-based, with approximately 43% of the total change directed to Poland and Hungary. Almost two thirds (64%) of the latest quarterly expansion in cross-border lending to EMDEs was reported by banks located in the United Kingdom, Turkey, the United States, Spain and China.
Global liquidity indicators at end-March 2026
The BIS global liquidity indicators (GLIs) track total credit to non-bank borrowers, covering both loans extended by banks and funding from international bond markets.5 The latter is captured through the net issuance (gross issuance less redemptions) of international debt securities (IDS). The focus is on foreign currency credit denominated in the three major reserve currencies (US dollar, euro and Japanese yen) to non-residents, ie borrowers outside the respective currency areas.
Foreign currency credit denominated in US dollars and euros grew robustly in Q1 2026, with annual growth rates of 7.3% and 12%, respectively. The outstanding stock of US dollar-denominated foreign currency debt reached $14.7 trillion as of end-March 2026, with approximately 30% attributed to EMDE borrowers (Graph 6.A). Meanwhile, euro-denominated foreign currency debt stood at €5.1 trillion, with around 17% owed by EMDE borrowers (Graph 6.B).
While the outstanding stock of euro-denominated foreign currency credit remains substantially lower than its US dollar counterpart, the former has grown faster than the latter in recent years, both globally and within EMDEs (Graph 6.C). Consequently, between end-Q3 2022 and end-Q1 2026, the share of euro credit has risen from 22% to 28% globally and from 14% to 18% in EMDEs (Graph 6.D).6
Annex graphs
1 In the BIS LBS, bank claims comprise: (i) loans and deposits; (ii) holdings of debt securities; and (iii) derivatives with a positive market value and other residual instruments (combined). Credit is defined as the sum of (i) and (ii).
2 Banks typically expand their balance sheets in the first quarter of the year, leading to seasonal effects. After adjusting for such effects, the increase in cross-border bank claims was around $1.6 trillion in Q1 2026, still marking the largest post-pandemic quarterly expansion.
3 In the BIS international banking statistics, the bank sector comprises related offices, unrelated banks and central banks; the non-bank sector comprises non-bank financial institutions and the non-financial sector (including the general government, non-financial corporations and households). For detailed sector definitions, refer to Table 2.6 in the 2019 Reporting guidelines for the BIS international banking statistics.
4 In this section, as well as in the global liquidity indicators section, the four EMDE sub-regions are: (i) emerging Asia and Pacific; (ii) emerging Latin America and the Caribbean; (iii) emerging Europe; and (iv) emerging Africa and the Middle East. For the sake of brevity and space, the names of these sub-regions may be abbreviated in the graph legends and in the commentaries.
5 The GLIs cover total foreign currency credit denominated in US dollars, euros or Japanese yen, which includes loans from banks plus outstanding international bonds. This is broader than bank credit covered in the previous section, which captures banks loans and their holdings of debt securities.
6 While the increase in the euro share is a bit smaller when calculated using constant exchange rates, the overall trend remains positive (Graph 6.D, dotted lines).