FinObservatory

Cross-border banking exposure / Zambia

What the world’s banks lend to Zambia

The funding view: cross-border claims of BIS-reporting banks on Zambia, from the locational statistics (LBS, by lender residence), with the consolidated claims by bank nationality (CBS) alongside. BIS-reporting banks held $5.91B of cross-border claims on Zambia in Q4 2025, up from $560M when the series begins in Q4 1977.

$5.91B
LBS cross-border claims
Q4 2025, all reporters
−$2.30B
Change since 2019
−28.0% vs Q4 2019
$2.88B
LBS liabilities to Zambia
Q4 2025, banks’ funding from
$2.11B
CBS international claims
Q4 2025, nationality basis

Cross-border claims on Zambia, Q4 1977Q4 2025

LBS cross-border claims of all reporting banks on Zambia, 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 Zambia 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 Zambia 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 Zambia in Q4 2025, broken out by the nationality of the lending banks (where the parent is headquartered, worldwide-consolidated, immediate-counterparty basis). The top 5 reporting banking systems shown account for $541M of the $2.11B consolidated total. This is a different measure from the residence-based claims above and is not additive with them.

Bank nationalityInternational claims
GBR United Kingdom$373M
CHE Switzerland$57M
JPN Japan$54M
SWE Sweden$51M
FRA France$6M

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 Zambia 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 Zambia’s full financial profile on its country page. See the methodology for LBS versus CBS and the exact selections.