The Bank for International Settlements has released OTC derivative statistics for the second half of 2012. The statistical package highlights key developments and trends in the OTC derivatives market.

The notional amount of credit default swaps continued to decline over the six month period, from $26.9 trillion in June 2012 to $25.1 trillion at the end of the year. This decline brought the total reduction in credit default swaps since June 2011 to $7.3 trillion. Contracts with foreign counterparties dropped to $19.0 trillion at end-December 2012, while contracts with counterparties headquartered in the reporting dealers' home country increased by $700 billion.