The dollar amount of outstanding securities backed by commercial and multifamily mortgages has risen from $ billion at the end of 1989 to just under  BIS Review 24/2004  1  $ billion as of this past September. In addition, commercial banks and finance companies have moved business loans off their books through the development of collateralized debt obligations.
Securitized business loans amounted to $ billion in the third quarter of 2003, up from a relatively miniscule $ billion in 1989. Firms also use derivatives to manage their risk exposures to price fluctuations in currency, commodity, energy, and interest rate markets.