The story
From back-to-back + loan.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
back-to-back loan
Today it means: A transaction where a sum borrowed for one country is secured by a deposit of the same company (internal financing) or its stakeholder (external financing) at the same or two different operating companies of the lending financial institution (which may have different legal consequences under taxation law), motivated by hedging against currency fluctuations, restrictive banking regulations in the target country, tax avoidance or money laundering etc. Full definition →