ECB Data on EU transactions

It's always nice to have some hard numbers when it comes to talking about the levels of transactions. I've often regretted that the B.I.S. figures only talk about transactions in a limited number of countries, but when I was exchanging with a very nice person at B.I.S. about the missing figures for LCH.Clearnet, he suggested that I should have a look at the ECB Statistics site - and specifically here.

Very interesting. There are three pdf files that you can download. There's one  called "Comparative tables - securities clearing statistics". I've extracted the numbers to be able to get the totals. Here they are:

As you can see, cash (outright) securities transactions through counterpart clearing peaked at 27.5 trillion euros in 2007, dropped in 2009 but has climbed back a bit to 16.4 trillion euros in 2010. I wonder what the story will be for 2011.

There's another one called "Comparative tables - securities trading statistics". 
Again, I've extracted the key information here. We get a total of  35.5 trillion euros. Interestingly, we find numbers for the London Stock Exchange - something that hasn't made it into the BIS data since 2005. They handled 7.8 trillion euros worth of securities exchanges.

Finally, there's a file called "Comparative tables - securities settlement statistics". Here are the key numbers.

This is the really impressive one, because the totals reach an impressive 916 trillion euros in 2010. The numbers for Euroclear Bank in Belgium are particularly eye-watering - 277 trillion euros. But Euroclear UK and Ireland don't do badly (168 trillion), and neither does Euroclear France (137 trillion).

It goes without saying that a 0.1% FTT on that lot would raise a lot more money that the European Commission was suggesting.