The largest foreign holders of U.S. Treasury securities. 5 series: Japan, China (mainland), United Kingdom, Belgium, Cayman Islands. Latest, Aug 2026: Japan 1068.3; China (mainland) 590.7; United Kingdom 1009.5; Belgium 490.5; Cayman Islands 463.0.

Holdings are attributed to the country of the custodian, not the owner, so Belgium (home of Euroclear), the United Kingdom and the Cayman Islands hold much that belongs to others, including, by Brad Setser's reckoning, part of China's reserves. Each June through 2011 the series is re-benchmarked to an annual survey, which makes it jump; June 2010 added about $250 billion to China's holdings. Cayman Islands holdings are shown separately from 2012.

See also: Holdings restated by the issuer's nationality: Global Capital Allocation Project data; Brad Setser, "A Bit More on Chinese, Belgian and Saudi Custodial Holdings" (CFR, 2016); Laurence Wilse-Samson, "Global Finance: A Money View", chapter 3, The International Dimension

Classroom exerciseCompute Belgium's and the Cayman Islands' holdings as a share of the five shown in the latest month. Why are those holdings so large relative to their economies? Read Setser's post on custodial holdings, linked on the chart, and explain what custodial bias does to the data. Teach page