The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) today released OTC derivatives statistics at end-December 2015. Global OTC derivatives markets saw a broad-based decline in activity in the second half of 2015. The notional amount of outstanding contracts fell by 11% between end-June 2015 and end-December 2015, from $552 trillion to $493 trillion. Trade compression to eliminate redundant contracts was a key driver.
The fall in notional amounts was accompanied by a sharp drop in the gross market value of outstanding derivatives contracts, which provides a more meaningful measure of amounts at risk. Gross market values decreased by 6% between end-June 2015 and end-December 2015, from $15.5 trillion to $14.5 trillion, their lowest level since 2007 (view data). The decline was concentrated in interest rate swaps.
Central clearing, which is a key element in global regulators’ agenda for reforming OTC derivatives markets to reduce systemic risks, continued to make inroads. The share of credit default swaps booked with central counterparties rose to 34% at end-December 2015, up from 31% at mid-2015 and less than 10% at mid-2010 (view data). Developments in the latest OTC derivatives statistics are summarised in the Statistical release, together with charts showing historical data. Additional data are available on the BIS website, where they can be viewed as tables in PDF or browsed in the BIS Statistics Explorer. The OTC derivatives statistics at end-June 2016 will be released no later than 15 November 2016.
