Fast-Growing Settlement Values
First, the settlement values of payment systems in industrialized countries have increased at a very rapid pace, which has been higher than that of economic growth. Figure 1 shows the settlement values of payment systems in eleven developed countries and the euro area (from 1999). This chart tells us that the settlement amount became more than double during the past fifteen years. The progress in globalization and liberalization of financial transactions has had a direct impact on the drastic increase on settlement amounts.
Figure 1. Settlement values of selected payment systems (Source: statistics on payment and settlement systems in selected countries, BIS, each year)
Settlement Values Relative to Nominal GDP
Table 1 and Figure 2 show the settlement values of payment systems relative to the nominal GDP in thirteen industrialized countries. In most countries, this ratio is between 40 and 100 times1 the annual nominal GDP (see Table 1 and Figure 2). The average ratio is 75.3 times in 2007.
Table 1. Settlement values of payment systems relative to nominal GDP (As of 2007) --- Times
| Country | Payment System | Settlement values relative to Nominal GDP 1 |
| Belgium | ELLIPS | 79.5 |
| Canada | LVTS | 30.0 |
| France | TBF | 76.7 |
| PNS | 8.6 |
| Germany | RTGSplus | 95.9 |
| Hong Kong | HKD CHATS | 134.2 |
| Italy | BIREL | 27.4 |
| Japan | BOJ-NET | 57.2 |
| FXYCS | 10.9 |
| Netherlands | TOP | 68.9 |
| Singapore | MEPS | 62.8 |
| Sweden | RIX 2 | 48.9 4 |
| Switzerland | SIC | 102.1 |
| UK | CHAPS 3 | 65.9 4 |
| US | Fedwire | 48.6 |
| CHIPS | 35.2 |
| Total | --- | 75.3 |
Note1: Settlement value (annual) / Nominal GDP (annual)
Note2: RIX = K-RIX + E-RIX
Note3: CHAPS = CHAPS Sterling + CHAPS Euro
Note4: Sweden and UK are figures of 2006.
Source: BIS (2009)
Figure 2. Settlement values of payment systems relative to nominal GDP (As of 2007) Source: BIS (2009)
This fact means that a one-week settlement amount of a payment system is larger than the annual nominal GDP of the nation. In other words, a payment system settles the nominal amount of annual GDP in only three or four days. With this knowledge in mind, you can imagine the tremendous social impact there would be if there were to be a malfunction with a payment system. It is needless to say that larger settlement values are accompanied with larger settlement risk.