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FinObservatory

Cross-border banking exposure / Vatican City State

What the world’s banks lend to Vatican City State

The funding view: cross-border claims of BIS-reporting banks on Vatican City State, from the locational statistics (LBS, by lender residence), with the consolidated claims by bank nationality (CBS) alongside. BIS-reporting banks held $14M of cross-border claims on Vatican City State in Q4 2025, from $22M when the series begins in Q2 1979.

$14M
LBS cross-border claims
Q4 2025, all reporters
−$153M
Change since 2019
−91.7% vs Q4 2019
$479M
LBS liabilities to Vatican City State
Q4 2025, banks’ funding from
$0.56M
CBS international claims
Q4 2025, nationality basis

Cross-border claims on Vatican City State, Q2 1979Q4 2025

LBS cross-border claims of all reporting banks on Vatican City State, in USD billions, quarterly. The GFC and COVID quarters are shaded. This is the residence view, where a claim counts by where the lending bank sits, so a claim on Vatican City State booked from any reporting jurisdiction is included.

Hover for daily values

Source: BIS Locational Banking Statistics (WS_LBS_D_PUB), BIS Data Portal (data.bis.org). Selection: cross-border claims (measure C), all reporting countries (5A) vs Vatican City State as counterparty, all instruments, all currencies, all counterparty sectors, quarterly, amounts outstanding. License: free with “Source: BIS” attribution. Values shown in USD billions; raw BIS unit is USD millions. Methodology

Consolidated claims by bank nationality

CBS international claims on Vatican City State in Q4 2025, broken out by the nationality of the lending banks (where the parent is headquartered, worldwide-consolidated, immediate-counterparty basis). The top 1 reporting banking systems shown account for $0.00M of the $0.56M consolidated total. This is a different measure from the residence-based claims above and is not additive with them.

Bank nationalityInternational claims
IRL Ireland$0.00M

Source: BIS Consolidated Banking Statistics (WS_CBS_PUB), BIS Data Portal (data.bis.org). Selection: international claims (measure I, domestic banks 4B, immediate-counterparty basis F), individual reporting banking system by nationality vs Vatican City State as counterparty, latest quarter, amounts outstanding. License: free with “Source: BIS” attribution. CBS carries claims only; it has no liabilities measure by design. Methodology

Back to the cross-border overview, or Vatican City State’s full financial profile on its country page. See the methodology for LBS versus CBS and the exact selections.