Broadly similar patterns are found for the United States, where the ratio rose from 230 per cent in 1996 to 360 in 2007 and then declined to 310 in 2012, and for the UK, where the ratio increased from 280 to 440 per cent and then remained stable.
The total outstanding notional amount of over-the-counter (OTC) and exchange-traded derivatives has risen from less than 100 trillion US dollars at the end of 1998 to around 500 trillion at the end of 2006, 700 at the end of 2007 and still 700 trillion in December 2012.