Foreign exchange bankers reacted with alarm yesterday to proposals from a senior US politician that would require trades in currency derivatives to be processed through a centralised clearing system.
Bankers said the proposals put forward by Barney Frank, the powerful chairman of the House financial services committee, would introduce new systemic risks into the financial system. They said the sheer size of the market would dwarf the risk that could be sustained by any clearing house.
About $3,200bn of currency is traded daily around the world. About two-thirds of that trade is in derivatives that are used frequently by companies to hedge the risk that currencies move sharply between a deal being struck and completed.