OCC Quarterly Report Shows Drop in Bank Derivatives Trading Revenue

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") reported that derivatives trading revenue of insured U.S. commercial banks and savings associations dropped to $4.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018. This represented a $2.9 billion (or 41 percent) decrease over revenue compared to the previous quarter and $1.7 billion less (or 28.5 percent) than last year.

In addition, the report found that derivative notional amounts went down in the fourth quarter of 2018 14.8 percent to $176.4 trillion and that derivative contracts continued to be concentrated in interest rate products.

The report was based on call report information supplied by all insured U.S. commercial banks and savings associations.