UK MFI External Business Statistics Q4 2025
Summary
The Bank of England has published the UK MFI external business statistics for Q4 2025. This release incorporates updated country grouping conventions aligned with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). External liabilities increased by $114.1 billion and claims by $109.5 billion in Q4 2025.
What changed
The Bank of England has released its statistical update for the external business of Monetary Financial Institutions (MFIs) operating in the UK for the fourth quarter of 2025. A key change implemented with this publication is the adoption of new country grouping conventions for international banking statistics, aligning with those used by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). This change affects how the data on claims and liabilities to other countries is presented. The statistical data itself indicates that, adjusted for exchange rate movements, external liabilities increased by $114.1 billion and external claims increased by $109.5 billion during Q4 2025. The largest increases in both liabilities and claims were observed with Advanced Economies, notably Norway.
While this release is primarily statistical and does not impose new direct compliance obligations on regulated entities, financial institutions should be aware of the updated country grouping conventions. This change may impact internal reporting or analysis that relies on these specific statistical breakdowns. Compliance officers should ensure any internal systems or reports that utilize these statistics are updated to reflect the new BIS-aligned country groupings. No specific compliance deadline or penalty information is associated with this statistical notice.
What to do next
- Review updated country grouping conventions for UK MFI external business statistics.
- Ensure internal reporting and analysis systems reflect the new BIS-aligned country groupings.
Source document (simplified)
External business of Monetary Financial Institutions operating in the UK - 2025 Q4
This statistical release covers claims on and liabilities to other countries by UK-resident banks and building societies (monetary financial institutions).
Published on
06 March 2026
Key points
- With effect from this publication of 2025 Q4 data, the Bank of England has implemented changes for country grouping conventions used in statistics covering the international business of monetary financial institutions operating in the UK. As set out in the Bankstats article of December 2024, the change to these breakdowns aligns our publication with the grouping used by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in their published reports. Additional details of the changes are in the Bankstats article of February 2026.
- Adjusted for exchange rate movements, external liabilities increased by $114.1 billion during 2025 Q4. By region, the largest increase in liabilities was to Advanced Economies ($85.2 billion), where the largest increase by country was to Norway ($58.5 billion).
- Adjusted for exchange rate movements, external claims increased by $109.5 billion during 2025 Q4. By region, the largest increase in claims was on Advanced Economies ($53.7 billion), where the increase by country was entirely accounted for by Norway ($70.1 billion).
Table A: Regional breakdown of external claims and liabilities (US$ billion)
| | Exchange rate adjusted flows | | | Amounts outstanding |
| --- | --- | --- | | |
| | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | End-Dec 2025 |
| 2025 | 2025 | 2025 | | |
| Liabilities to: | | | | |
| Advanced Economies | 156.5 | 179.4 | 85.2 | 4,786.2 |
| Emerging Market and Developing Economies | 2.6 | -10.3 | 12.5 | 588.5 |
| International Organisations & Other | -7.2 | 35.4 | 16.4 | 1,145.2 |
| Total | 151.9 | 204.5 | 114.1 | 6,519.9 |
| Claims on: | | | | |
| Advanced Economies | 122.4 | 156.5 | 53.7 | 5,593.4 |
| Emerging Market and Developing Economies | 13.0 | 24.6 | 19.3 | 547.3 |
| International Organisations & Other | -0.2 | 16.7 | 36.5 | 292.7 |
| Total | 135.2 | 197.7 | 109.5 | 6,433.4 |
Chart 1: Exchange rate adjusted flows of liabilities by counterpart sector and region 2025 Q4 (US$ billion)
Chart 2: Exchange rate adjusted flows of claims by counterpart sector and region 2025 Q4 (US$ billion)
Exchange rate adjusted flows of external liabilities and claims: Advanced Economies
Chart 3: Flows of liabilities by country for Advanced Economies 2025 Q4 (5 largest increases/decreases) (US$ billion)
Table B: Amounts outstanding and exchange rate adjusted flows of liabilities by country: Advanced Economies - 2025 Q4 (US$ billion)
| | | Total | | DTC | | Non-DTC | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | |
| Amounts outstanding | Flow | Amounts outstanding | Flow | Amounts outstanding | Flow | | |
| Largest increases | Norway | 132.5 | 58.5 | 129.7 | 58.3 | 2.7 | 0.2 |
| Japan | 180.3 | 23.3 | 113.7 | 25.4 | 66.6 | -2.2 | |
| France | 287.0 | 16.0 | 253.8 | 18.2 | 33.2 | -2.3 | |
| Germany | 473.7 | 13.4 | 439.4 | 12.9 | 34.3 | 0.5 | |
| Luxembourg | 81.2 | 10.3 | 8.8 | -1.3 | 72.3 | 11.7 | |
| Largest decreases | Belgium | 48.0 | -3.3 | 38.6 | -2.1 | 9.4 | -1.2 |
| Australia | 67.7 | -4.5 | 38.6 | -1.6 | 29.1 | -2.9 | |
| Netherlands | 130.2 | -5.2 | 59.5 | -2.1 | 70.6 | -3.1 | |
| Switzerland | 271.5 | -5.7 | 170.7 | -1.1 | 100.7 | -4.7 | |
| Canada | 118.4 | -33.7 | 95.4 | -36.4 | 23.0 | 2.7 | |
Chart 4: Flows of claims by country for Advanced Economies 2025 Q4 (5 largest increases/decreases) (US$ billion)
Table C: Amounts outstanding and exchange rate adjusted flows of claims by country: Advanced Economies - 2025 Q4 (US$ billion)
| | | Total | | DTC | | Non-DTC | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | |
| Amounts outstanding | Flow | Amounts outstanding | Flow | Amounts outstanding | Flow | | |
| Largest increases | Norway | 156.1 | 70.1 | 148.6 | 70.0 | 7.5 | 0.2 |
| United States | 2,161.6 | 37.3 | 702.3 | -27.9 | 1,459.3 | 65.1 | |
| France | 513.5 | 21.3 | 438.8 | 21.6 | 74.7 | -0.4 | |
| Singapore | 109.8 | 13.4 | 54.4 | 0.1 | 55.4 | 13.3 | |
| Luxembourg | 240.8 | 9.8 | 8.9 | -0.8 | 231.9 | 10.6 | |
| Largest decreases | Ireland | 182.7 | -8.9 | 46.9 | -12.6 | 135.8 | 3.7 |
| Netherlands | 80.9 | -12.2 | 61.2 | 1.5 | 19.7 | -13.7 | |
| Japan | 398.5 | -12.9 | 231.1 | 13.7 | 167.4 | -26.6 | |
| Jersey | 91.6 | -14.5 | 13.2 | 0.8 | 78.4 | -15.3 | |
| Germany | 427.2 | -27.5 | 369.9 | -23.4 | 57.3 | -4.1 | |
Exchange rate adjusted flows of external liabilities and claims: Emerging Market and Developing Economies
Chart 5: Flows of liabilities by country for Emerging Market and Developing Economies 2025 Q4 (5 largest increases/decreases) (US$ billion)
Table D: Amounts outstanding and exchange rate adjusted flows of liabilities by country: Emerging Market and Developing Economies - 2025 Q4 (US$ billion)
| | | Total | | DTC | | Non-DTC | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | |
| Amounts outstanding | Flow | Amounts outstanding | Flow | Amounts outstanding | Flow | | |
| Largest increases | China | 103.9 | 29.4 | 97.8 | 32.9 | 6.1 | -3.5 |
| Brazil | 12.7 | 5.8 | 10.0 | 5.4 | 2.7 | 0.4 | |
| Kazakhstan | 8.9 | 2.1 | 5.3 | 0.8 | 3.6 | 1.3 | |
| Saudi Arabia | 62.4 | 0.9 | 44.9 | 2.5 | 17.5 | -1.5 | |
| Thailand | 5.0 | 0.9 | 2.8 | -0.1 | 2.3 | 1.1 | |
| Largest decreases | Iraq | 4.1 | -1.6 | 4.0 | -1.4 | 0.1 | -0.2 |
| Nigeria | 18.3 | -2.1 | 12.8 | -0.7 | 5.5 | -1.4 | |
| Poland | 10.3 | -3.8 | 8.7 | -3.9 | 1.6 | 0.1 | |
| Mexico | 12.5 | -8.2 | 9.7 | -7.2 | 2.9 | -1.0 | |
| United Arab Emirates | 73.4 | -11.2 | 33.3 | -6.4 | 40.1 | -4.8 | |
Chart 6: Flows of claims by country for Emerging Market and Developing Economies 2025 Q4 (5 largest increases/decreases) (US$ billion)
Table E: Amounts outstanding and exchange rate adjusted flows of claims by country: Emerging Market and Developing Economies - 2025 Q4 (US$ billion)
| | | Total | | DTC | | Non-DTC | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | |
| Amounts outstanding | Flow | Amounts outstanding | Flow | Amounts outstanding | Flow | | |
| Largest increases | China | 43.4 | 8.0 | 34.4 | 8.2 | 9.1 | -0.2 |
| Saudi Arabia | 39.6 | 6.2 | 13.7 | 2.5 | 25.9 | 3.6 | |
| Turkey | 34.0 | 3.8 | 21.7 | 2.7 | 12.3 | 1.1 | |
| Brazil | 47.7 | 3.4 | 19.9 | 2.4 | 27.8 | 0.9 | |
| Egypt | 16.6 | 2.3 | 6.0 | 0.1 | 10.7 | 2.2 | |
| Largest decreases | Argentina | 0.4 | -0.5 | 0.1 | -0.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| Poland | 10.4 | -0.5 | 6.4 | -1.4 | 4.0 | 0.9 | |
| Kuwait | 3.7 | -0.8 | 2.1 | -0.2 | 1.7 | -0.6 | |
| Mauritius | 4.0 | -1.0 | 1.5 | 0.1 | 2.4 | -1.1 | |
| United Arab Emirates | 105.0 | -9.0 | 49.7 | -0.8 | 55.3 | -8.1 | |
Queries
If you have any comments or queries about this data release, please email dsd_ibs@bankofengland.co.uk
Next release date: 5 June 2026
More information
External business of monetary financial institutions operating in the UK - 2025 Q4 - Tables A-E (XLS 0.6MB)
Further data are available in Tables C3.1, C3.2, C3.3 and C3.4 of our latest Bankstats tables.Further details about external business of monetary financial institutions operating in the UK data
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