Description

As from issue number 50, the Series of Economic Studies of the Central Bank of Chile will be called Studies in Economic Statistics.

Every financial crisis has generated demand for new information in order to better understand the functioning of the financial markets and the behavior of market participants. The subprime mortgage crisis was no exception, displaying evidence of the need for transparency and availability of more detailed information on financial derivatives. Some of the commitments made to resolve this situation have been the creation of derivative trade repositories as well as the availability of more timely and granular information to the public.

In Chile, particularly in the foreign exchange market, the Central Bank of Chile has incorporated the publication of financial sector statistics, from both the spot and derivatives markets, in order to better understand their evolution as well as providing background information in the analysis of financial stability.

In this context, the objective of this paper is to highlight the information that the Central Bank of Chile publishes monthly on the foreign exchange spot and derivatives markets. These publications emphasize the importance of the principal financial agents in Chile such as pension funds, real sector companies and the foreign sector, amongst others, and support users in their analysis of the information.