U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT

OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 29, 2012 

CONTACT: Treasury Public Affairs, (202) 622-2960

PRELIMINARY REPORT ON FOREIGN HOLDINGS OF U.S. SECURITIES

AT END-JUNE 2011

WASHINGTON - Preliminary data from a survey of foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. 

securities at the end of June 2011 were released today on the Treasury web site at 

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Pages/fpis.aspx. Final survey 

results, which will include additional detail as well as possible revisions to the preliminary data, 

will be reported on April 30, 2012. The survey was undertaken jointly by Treasury, the Federal

Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The 

next survey will cover holdings at the end of June 2012; preliminary data are expected to be 

released by February 28, 2013. 

Complementary surveys measuring U.S. holdings of foreign securities are also carried out 

annually. Data from the most recent survey, reporting on securities held at year-end 2011, are 

currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported by August 31, 2012.

Overall Preliminary Results

The survey measured foreign holdings of U.S. securities as of June 30, 2011, to be $12,520

billion, with $3,906 billion held in U.S. equities, $7,733 billion in U.S. long-term debt securities1

(of which $1,141 billion are holdings of asset-backed securities (ABS) 2 and $6,593 billion are 

holdings of non-ABS securities), and $881 billion held in U.S. short-term debt securities. The 

previous survey, conducted as of June 30, 2010, measured total foreign holdings of U.S. 

securities at $10,691 billion, with holdings of $2,814 billion in U.S. equities, $6,921 billion in 

U.S. long-term debt securities, and $956 billion in U.S. short-term debt securities (see Table 1). 

Revisions to the Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities Table

A revised table on Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities was also released at 

(http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Pages/ticsec2.aspx, on line 1 of 

Part A). This revised table is based on the June 2011 survey data, but also includes new data on 

holdings of Treasury bonds and notes at the end of September 2011 and December 2011 as 

reported on the new Treasury International Capital Form SLT, “Aggregate Holdings of LongTerm Securities by U.S. and Foreign Residents.” This inclusion of new data in the Major 
2

Foreign Holders table differs from past practice, where the Major Foreign Holders table was 

constructed based upon the June survey data and subsequently included monthly transactions 

data on foreign net purchases of long-term Treasuries until the next survey data were available.

As of January of 2012, the new data on foreign holdings of Treasury securities is being collected 

monthly instead of quarterly and will be included in the Major Foreign Holders tables in the 

future. This new data will improve the accuracy of country attribution for foreign holdings of 

Treasury securities by reducing the “transactions bias” from the transactions data that was 

included in past Major Foreign Holders tables (see TIC FAQ #7 at: 

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/faqs/Treasury-International-Capital/Pages/ticfaqs.aspx#q7). Transactions bias often resulted in some sizable reallocations of holdings when 

the data from the comprehensive annual June survey were released. 

Beginning with the April release of data, the Major Foreign Holders table will reflect monthly 

data on foreign holdings for January and transactions data for February. In May, the February 

data will be updated to reflect the monthly holdings data, and transactions data for March.

This new improvement tracks country ownership on a monthly basis, but ownership gaps remain. 

For example, to the extent that a foreign holder of a Treasury security keeps that security in 

custody in a country other than the United States, or acquires a Treasury security by purchase 

from a foreign holder who similarly keeps the security in custody outside the United States, 

country attribution of ownership may not be fully captured in the data.

1. Long-term debt securities have an original term-to-maturity of over one year.

2. Asset-backed securities are backed by pools of assets, such as pools of residential home mortgages or credit card 

receivables, which give the security owners claims against the cash flows generated by the underlying assets. 

Unlike most other debt securities, these securities generally repay both principal and interest on a regular basis, 

reducing the principal outstanding with each payment cycle.
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Table 1. Foreign holdings of U.S. securities, by type of security, as of recent survey dates

(Billions of dollars)

Type of Security June 30, 2010 June 30, 2011

Long-term Securities 9,736 11,639

 Equity 2,814 3,906

 Long-term debt 6,921 7,733

 Asset-backed 1,159 1,141

 Other 5,763 6,593

Short-term debt securities 956 881

Total 10,691 12,520

Of which: Official 4,346 4,874

Table 2. Foreign holdings of U.S. securities, by country and type of security, for the major 

investing countries into the U.S., as of June 30, 2011

(Billions of dollars)

Country or category Total Equities Long-term debt Short-term

ABS Other debt

1 China (Mainland)1 1,727 159 220 1,343 5

2 Japan 1,587 304 165 1,052 67

3 United Kingdom 982 442 53 471 16

4 Cayman Islands 928 433 131 284 80

5 Luxembourg 817 291 50 407 69

6 Canada 560 416 10 121 13

7 Switzerland 488 227 24 222 16

8 Middle East Oil Exporters2 446 214 13 137 82

9 Belgium 443 25 36 376 6

10 Ireland 407 105 47 139 115

11 Hong Kong 292 44 101 82 66

12 Bermuda 275 62 49 136 28

13 Netherlands 260 165 22 67 5

14 France 249 141 16 78 14

15 Germany 238 81 38 112 7

16 Taiwan 232 16 39 175 3

17 Brazil 221 2 * 214 5

18 Singapore 212 107 3 95 7

19 Norway 181 124 12 44 1

20 Australia 161 106 5 44 7

21 Russia 154 * * 138 16

22 Korea, South 133 20 42 66 5

23 Sweden 108 65 1 40 2

24 British Virgin Islands 107 61 4 25 17

25 Mexico 97 25 1 68 3

 Country Unknown 138 2 * 136 1

Rest of the World 1,074 270 59 520 225

Total 12,520 3,906 1,141 6,593 881

of which: Foreign Official 4,874 593 421 3,421 439

1. Excludes Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, which are reported separately.

2. Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates.