The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has released the results of a survey of derivatives usage by the world’s 500 largest companies. This found that 94% of them use derivatives to manage and hedge their business and financial risks.
The survey of the 2008 Fortune Global 500 was conducted in March and April of 2009.
The survey found that FX derivatives are the most widely used instruments (88%), followed by interest rate derivatives (83%) and commodity derivatives. Usage of FX and interest derivatives was fairly uniform across all industries: outside financial services, some 72% to 92% of companies report using FX derivatives, rising to 96% for financial services companies.