US G-Sibs keep on expanding repo books

Systemically important US banks built up their repo exposures in the first three months of the year and JP Morgan led the way with a 9% increase on the prior quarter and a huge 34% on Q1 2018.

Repo-style transactions accounted for $1.7 trillion, or 13%, of aggregate total leverage exposure at the eight global systemically important banks (G-Sibs), up 4% on Q4 2018 and 11% on Q1 2018.

JP Morgan’s repo exposure hit $444.8 billion, up from $408.6 billion in the last quarter of 2018 and $332.6