France long-term state debt: credit institution holdings
France long-term state debt: credit institution holdings stood at 260,176.44 EUR million in Q2 2026, according to Banque de France – Webstat (webstat.banque-france.fr). It is one of the indicators in the Debt securities holders table (Value · Quarterly), with a complete series running from Q1 2008 to Q2 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Debt securities holders table
| Indicator | Q2-2026 | Q1-2026 | Q4-2025 | Q3-2025 | Q2-2025 | Q1-2025 | Q4-2024 | Q3-2024 | Q2-2024 | Q1-2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial corporations | 998,847.52 | 1,034,016.81 | 1,069,536.03 | 1,090,339.4 | 1,083,923.67 | 1,075,706.96 | 1,085,580.07 | 1,090,809.11 | 1,023,951.41 | 1,038,603.99 | |
| Monetary financial institutions | 703,810.78 | 731,525.44 | 758,222.9 | 773,739.14 | 772,503.29 | 773,216.53 | 792,895.86 | 801,315.16 | 759,288.79 | 771,664.02 | |
| Credit institutions | 260,176.44 | 262,382.21 | 267,075.33 | 258,263.58 | 259,636.48 | 241,522.72 | 234,058.24 | 225,725.85 | 196,485.18 | 187,981.3 |
Understanding france long-term state debt: credit institution holdings
This series quantifies the holdings of long-term state debt securities maintained by resident credit institutions, primarily commercial banks, savings banks, and cooperative banking entities. It measures the volume of sovereign paper utilized by deposit-taking lenders for regulatory liquidity buffers, collateralized lending operations, and asset-liability management. Central banks, money market funds, and non-banking financial corporations are strictly excluded from this credit institution subset. This metric highlights how commercial banking balance sheets absorb government debt.
Evaluating credit institution holdings requires tracking regulatory liquidity ratios and capital adequacy mandates, which dictate the mandatory minimum holdings of high-quality liquid assets like sovereign bonds. Quarter-on-quarter comparisons help reveal shifts in commercial bank risk appetite and credit creation trends within the broader economy. Revisions may occur when credit institutions update regulatory reporting schedules or undergo structural mergers. A prominent analytical pitfall is assuming that an increase in commercial bank sovereign holdings indicates robust economic growth, when it frequently signals weak commercial loan demand and a conservative banking stance.
Frequently asked questions
- Which institutions are classified under credit institutions in this dataset?
- Commercial banks, savings institutions, and cooperative banks that accept deposits from the public.
- Why do commercial banks maintain large portfolios of long-term state debt?
- Banks hold these securities to satisfy regulatory liquidity buffers, manage interest rate risk, and serve as collateral for wholesale funding.
- How does this series differ from central bank holdings?
- Credit institutions are commercial deposit-takers operating for profit, whereas the central bank executes monetary policy without commercial constraints.