Meanings
nounzombie bank (plural zombie banks)
plural zombie banks
- derogatorybankingA bank that is insolvent but is sustained by government intervention.
But governments and central banks vouched for the zombie banks, which were able to keep borrowing dollars from banks in other countries.
1997 December 30, Martin Mayer, “Why Secrecy is Bad for Banking”, in Wall Street Journal
Origin
First used in reference to the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, possibly coined by economist Edward Kane.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
zombie bank. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zombie%20bank
MLA
“zombie bank.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zombie%20bank. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “zombie bank,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zombie%20bank.
Source: zombie bank on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.