It was excellent propaganda from Obama today about stopping banks from speculating and trading for their own account but perhaps he hasn’t read the OCC US Bank Derivative report which shows that 5 US banks hold notional amounts of derivatives ranging from 4 T$ (Wells Fargo) to 78 T$ (JPM). All banks together own 204 T$ of derivatives. Note that almost 100% of these derivatives are held for trading by the top 4 derivative holders (see table below). The percentage of derivatives held for trading by all banks averages 98.9%. I don’t know how he contemplates getting the banks to unwind them. These derivatives include 102 B$ in gold derivatives and 9.3B$ in Precious Metals (mainly silver) derivatives. This massive derivatives monster demands a new denomination “Too Big to Comprehend”! I would bet that Obama doesn’t even know about the problem let alone comprehend it. If he does then his speech was the biggest lie ever told…unless of course he meant that the banks can’t speculate or trade for their own account with anything reported on their balance sheet; off balance sheet is OK or in accounts that are held in offshore special purpose vehicles!
Cheers
Adrian

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What strikes me is size of Goldman Sachs' total derivatives compared to their total assets. Take a look at how small they are compared to the other banks.