OTC derivatives market activity in the second half of 2012

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) released today OTC derivatives statistics at end-December 2012.

Developments in the latest data are highlighted in the Statistical release. Detailed breakdowns and time series data are available on the BIS website. Data at end-June 2013 will be released no later than 15 November 2013, in conjunction with the global results for the amounts outstanding part of the 2013 Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity.

Notional amounts for credit default swaps continued to decline during the second half of 2012, from $26.9 trillion at end-June 2012 to $25.1 trillion at end-December 2012. This brought the cumulative reduction since end-June 2011 to $7.3 trillion, partly due to the ongoing compression of contracts among dealers. In the second half of 2012, the reduction was concentrated among reporting dealers and in maturities over five years. Contracts with foreign counterparties dropped to $19.0 trillion at end-December 2012, whereas those with counterparties headquartered in reporting dealers' home country increased from $5.4 trillion at end-June 2012 to $6.1 trillion at end-December 2012.

Queries regarding the OTC derivatives statistics may be directed to statistics$bis.org (where "$" denotes "@").