For
Immediate Release, Wednesday, March 16, 2005
For More Information, Please Contact:
Louise Marshall, +1 212 901
6000, lmarshall@isda.org
Susan Hartzell, Kennedy &
Company, +1 914 961 2436, susan@kennedycom.com
"The strong growth exhibited in credit derivatives clearly underscores the
benefits of these products as risk management tools for an increasing range of
market participants," said Bob Pickel, Chief Executive Officer and
Executive Director of ISDA. "It also underscores the importance of ISDA´s, and the industry´s,
efforts to build a strong operational infrastructure that supports continuing
growth and innovation in the marketplace."
The notional principal outstanding volume of interest rate derivatives, which
include interest rate swaps and options and cross-currency swaps, grew by 12
per cent to $183.6 trillion from $164.49 trillion, but is a slower rate of
growth than in the first half of 2004, when the same product set grew by 16 per
cent. The annual growth rate for interest rate derivatives to end 2004 is 29
per cent.
Notional outstanding volume for equity derivatives, which consist
of equity swaps, options, and forwards, grew by almost 10 per cent from $3.79
trillion to $4.15 trillion, as compared with 9.7 per cent in the first half of
2004. This represents year-on-year
growth of 21 per cent.
The survey records notional outstanding volumes for all products covered, i.e. notional amounts of business transacted in relation to the underlying asset, versus the net exposures participants have to one another after conducting offsetting transactions and other credit risk mitigation techniques, such as netting. ISDA surveys its Primary Membership twice yearly on a confidential basis. In this survey, 109 firms provided data on interest rate swaps; 91 provided responses on credit derivatives; and 87 provided responses on equity derivatives. Although participation in the Survey is voluntary, all major dealers provided responses. All notional principal outstanding amounts have been adjusted for double counting of inter-dealer transactions. 109 firms responded to the Survey. For further detail on the ISDA Market Survey methodology, please see www.isda.org/statistics/index.html.
About ISDA
ISDA is the global trade association representing leading participants in the
privately negotiated derivatives industry. ISDA was chartered in 1985, and
today has more than 625 member institutions from 47 countries on six
continents. These members include most of the world's major institutions that
deal in privately negotiated derivatives, as well as many of the businesses,
governmental entities and other end users that rely on over-the-counter
derivatives to manage efficiently the financial market risks inherent in their
core economic activities. Information about ISDA and its activities is
available on the Association's web site: www.isda.org.
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