The credit and banking crisis has sparked the first decline in the outstanding volume of global derivatives contracts across all the leading sectors of financial markets since records began in 1998, according to the latest half-yearly data released by the Bank of International Settlements.

The BIS, the central bankers’ bank, reported that, for the six months ending in December 2008, the total notional amount of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives contracts outstanding fell 13 per cent to $592,000bn from $683,700bn.