Historically, banks have tended to prefer litigation over arbitration for their disputes. However, in recent years, banks have increasingly been using international arbitration instead, particularly when doing transactions in Asia and in emerging markets. The 2018 Queen Mary International Arbitration Survey also concluded that financial institutions, including banks, and their counsel are ‘contemplating arbitration with much greater interest than ever before’. In addition to using international commercial arbitration more often, banks have increasing sought to benefit from treaty-based international investment arbitration. The protections afforded in investment treaties mitigate some of the key risks banks face when investing abroad, such as having their investment nationalized or being subjected to unfair investigations. This article focuses on banks as claimants in treaty-based investment arbitrations, a subject not addressed in commentaries. It examines the publicly available investment arbitration awards in cases brought by banks against States and sets out to identify some key trends and themes.