Derivatives, in the form of futures, options and swaps, are being used with increasing frequency by fund managers and large institutional investors to hedge liabilities and trade without the hassle of finding, bartering, purchasing and reselling a stock.

According to this year's Financial News Derivatives in Fund Management survey, some 60% of managers believed the use of these financial instruments would either stay the same or increase despite calls to tighten the regulation of these often complex instruments.