In March 2009, the value of assets under custody held on behalf of customers registered a 5% decrease at 10.0 trillion (compared to 10.5 trillion in March 2008), primarily due to lower equity market valuations and despite an increase in bonds.
Securities held under custody in Clearstreams international business experienced a rise of 9% from 4.9 to 5.3 trillion while domestic German securities held under custody decreased by 17% from 5.6 trillion to 4.7 trillion.
International settlement transactions increased by 7% (2.50 million) compared to March 2008 (2.33 million). International Over the Counter (OTC) bond transactions grew by 37% from 1.12 million to 1.54 million in March 2009. Of all international transactions, 80% were OTC transactions and 20% were registered as stock exchange transactions.
On the German domestic market, settlement transactions reached 6.25 million, 6 percent less than in March 2008 (6.63 million). Of these transactions, 63% were stock exchange transactions and 37 percent OTC transactions.
For Global Securities Financing (GSF) services, the monthly average outstandings reached a high at 464.2 billion. The combined services, which include triparty repo, securities lending and collateral management, collectively experienced a rise of 20% over March 2008 ( 387.5 billion).
In the Investment Funds services, 313,359 transactions were processed, a 27% decrease over March 2008 (426,650) as a result of reduced European investment funds transactions.
L.D.