Outstanding value of derivatives held by U.S. banks 2006-2021
As of the last quarter of 2021, insured U.S. commercial banks and savings associations held a combined 177.6 trillion U.S. dollars of derivatives. The majority of these derivatives were swaps, which is where two parties agree to exchange cash flows on a certain financial asset for a set period of time (usually interest rates or currencies). Generally, the parties will only transact the difference between the two cash flows, not total amount included in the contract. However, the values given here are notional values, they include the whole value of the transaction.
