Such a leverage of central bank pronouncements and actions over private economic behaviour is an asset that can turn out to be very beneficial in cases of major shocks and risks.
During the crisis, the benefits of a central counterparty became apparent with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. Thanks to the participation of Lehman in a central counterparty for derivatives, its positions on interest rate swaps – which were enormous $ trillion and more than 66,000 transactions) – were unwound in an orderly and timely fashion.