How Liquid Are the World's Banks in 2026? A 145-Economy Ranking
Bank liquidity — the share of assets held as cash, central bank deposits, and government securities — is the difference between a bank that survives a run and one that does not. When depositors panic, liquid reserves are what stand between orderly payouts and fire sales. The 2023 collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse reminded the world that even well-capitalized banks can fail if they cannot meet withdrawal demands fast enough.
The World Bank tracks bank liquid reserves as a percentage of total assets for 145 economies. The data reveals a world split between banking systems that hold enormous liquidity buffers and others that run lean — and the reasons for the gap are not always what you would expect.
The most liquid banking systems
At the top of the ranking, Libya leads with liquid reserves equal to 214.1% of bank assets in 2024 — meaning Libyan banks hold more than double their assets in liquid form. This is not a sign of strength so much as dysfunction: years of conflict and sanctions have left banks unable to lend, so reserves pile up. The Solomon Islands follow at 117.0%, Haiti at 116.5%, and Mozambique at 106.5%.
The top ten most liquid banking systems:
| Rank | Economy | Liquid Reserves (% of assets) | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Libya | 214.1% | 2024 |
| 2 | Solomon Islands | 117.0% | 2024 |
| 3 | Haiti | 116.5% | 2024 |
| 4 | Mozambique | 106.5% | 2024 |
| 5 | Afghanistan | 86.9% | 2020 |
| 6 | Tonga | 81.5% | 2024 |
| 7 | Ghana | 70.7% | 2024 |
| 8 | Sudan | 70.6% | 2022 |
| 9 | South Sudan | 65.4% | 2024 |
| 10 | Sao Tome and Principe | 61.7% | 2024 |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (FD.RES.LIQU.AS.ZS).
In most of these economies, extreme liquidity reflects broken credit markets rather than prudent risk management. When banks cannot lend to businesses — because of war, sanctions, weak legal systems, or collapsed demand — the only safe asset available is government paper or central bank deposits. For context on how banking system health is measured on the other side of the balance sheet, see our analysis of how well-capitalized the world’s banks are.
The major economies: a wide spread
Among the world’s largest economies, liquidity ratios vary by an order of magnitude. Japan leads the G7 at 35.6%, followed by the United States at 14.1%. At the bottom, South Korea holds just 3.6% and Norway a mere 1.1%.
| Economy | Liquid Reserves (% of assets) | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | 35.6% | 2024 |
| United States | 14.1% | 2024 |
| Brazil | 21.7% | 2024 |
| India | 5.3% | 2024 |
| Australia | 8.3% | 2024 |
| Germany | — | — |
| United Kingdom | — | — |
| South Korea | 3.6% | 2024 |
| Norway | 1.1% | 2024 |
Japan’s high ratio reflects decades of deflation and weak loan demand — banks have struggled to find borrowers, so reserves accumulate. The U.S. spike in 2020–2021 (from 9.1% in 2019 to 22.3% in 2021) was a pandemic-era flight to safety, with banks hoarding cash as economic uncertainty peaked. By 2024, the ratio had fallen back to 14.1%, still above pre-pandemic levels. For how U.S. banks compare on capital adequacy, see our capital report.
Norway and South Korea, at the opposite extreme, run banking systems that are almost fully loaned out. Norwegian banks held liquid reserves equal to just 1.1% of assets in 2024 — the lowest of any economy in the dataset. This is not recklessness: Norway’s banks operate in a stable economy with strong deposit insurance, a credible central bank swap line, and a housing market that has never experienced a systemic crash. But it does mean that any sudden deposit outflow would require immediate central bank intervention.
The tradeoff: safety versus profitability
Bank liquidity is not free. Every dollar held as a low-yielding reserve is a dollar not earning interest on a business loan. The data shows a clear inverse relationship between liquidity and the depth of a country’s credit market. Economies with high reserves tend to have low private-sector credit-to-GDP ratios — their banks are sitting on cash instead of lending it to firms and households.
This tradeoff explains why the least liquid banking systems are often in the most financially developed economies. In Norway, South Korea, and Denmark (3.7%), banks can afford to run lean because they have access to deep wholesale funding markets and credible lender-of-last-resort facilities. In Libya or Afghanistan, there is no wholesale market to tap and no central bank willing to lend against uncertain collateral — so banks self-insure with massive reserves.
The post-2008 regulatory framework (Basel III) introduced a Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) requiring banks to hold enough high-quality liquid assets to survive 30 days of net outflows. This pushed liquidity up globally, but the effect varied. In the United States, the ratio jumped from 9.1% in 2019 to 22.3% in 2021 as banks front-loaded reserves. In Japan, it was already high and went higher. In South Korea, it barely moved.
The nonperforming loan connection
High liquidity often coexists with high nonperforming loans — both are symptoms of banks that cannot lend productively. When loan books are full of bad debt, banks stop originating new loans and park funds in safe assets instead. For a detailed look at where bad loans are concentrated, see our report on where bad loans pile up and our analysis of bad loans and bank stress.
Among the top 20 most liquid economies in the dataset, several also appear in the top 30 for nonperforming loan ratios. The pattern is self-reinforcing: bad loans reduce the incentive to lend, which increases reserves, which reduces profitability, which makes it harder to write off bad loans. Breaking this cycle requires either a macroeconomic recovery or a regulatory cleanup — typically a combination of both.
What to watch
The 145-economy dataset covers observations from 2020 to 2024, with most data points from 2024. The unweighted global median is approximately 15.8%, meaning half of all banking systems hold less than 16 cents in liquid reserves for every dollar of assets.
Three trends deserve attention:
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The post-pandemic unwind. Banks that hoarded cash in 2020–2021 are now deploying those reserves into loans as demand recovers. Expect liquidity ratios to fall in most advanced economies over the next two reporting cycles.
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Emerging market stress. Several fragile economies (Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, Mozambique) show extreme liquidity driven by conflict or institutional collapse. These ratios are unlikely to normalize without political stabilization.
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Regulatory ratchets. Basel III implementation continues in developing economies that were granted extended transition periods. As these requirements take effect, liquidity ratios should rise in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
For the broader picture on banking system resilience, see our reports on bank capital adequacy, the cost of credit, and how the world finances business.
Sources & method
All figures in this report are drawn from FinStatGlobe’s derived country datasets, built from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator FD.RES.LIQU.AS.ZS, bank liquid reserves to bank assets as a percentage). The dataset covers 145 economies; rankings are based on the latest available observation for each country, which ranges from 2020 to 2024 depending on reporting schedules. Cross-country comparisons use each country’s most recent data, not a single common year. Time series trends use annual observations from 2017 to 2024. For how the snapshot, derivation, and ranking steps work, see the methodology page.