BIS Transaction Figures for 2013 : The 50 biggest players

Here's another take on the latest set of figures from the Bank for International Settlements, that came out on the 30th September. I've gone through the various tables in the Comparative Tables. As I just showed in my previous post, the total is close to $10 quadrillion for 2013.

But just for fun, I sorted the various players to get a picture of the 50 largest players - according to BIS. Here's the result - including the place in the BIS file where I got the numbers. All those references to Tables refer to sections of the BIS's Excel spreadsheet.

As you can see, the list is topped by the Fixed Income Clearing Corportation (FICC) in the US, a subsiduary of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation  (DTCC), which managed to process well over $1 quadrillion last year, followed by the EUs Target system ($743 trillion), Fedwire in the States, ($713 trillion), Eurex in Germany ($710 trillion), Euroclear Bank in Belgium ($454 trillion, Crest in the UK ($437 trillion) and CHIPS in the USA ($380 trillion).

In fact, I've just read an announcement of a joint venture between DTCC and Euroclear  where you can read that "In 2013, DTCC’s subsidiaries processed securities transactions valued at approximately US$1.6 quadrillion", and that Euroclear group "settles the equivalent of $782 trillion (€572 trillion) in securities transactions annually representing 170 million domestic and cross-border transactions." It therefore looks like the numbers in the BIS data sheets may need to be increased somewhat.

But, as I was lamenting in my last post, there are plenty of players who for some reason are not included. I've already mentioned LCH.Clearnet - which handled nearly $1.6 quadrillion in 2008 (according to the BIS's own figures), but has mysteriously dropped off the BIS's radar since. Then there are outfits like CME Group and the Options Clearing Corporation - who have apparently never registered with BIS at all, but opening profess to handling quadrillions of trades every year.

Can any one help compile the true figures? I'm happy to offer a prize for the person who can find the biggest "invisible" player in the world's financial markets....