The WFE’s 2022 Market Highlights report showed that a massive $25 trillion was wiped off international equity markets, which followed two years of growth.

The report cites a number of factors in the stock market slump, including the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, rising inflation and the Ukraine Russia war.

“We witnessed a perfect storm in 2022 of so many negative pressures culminating to bring immense pressure on global stock markets, as our report highlights," said Nandini.

The report also shows that volumes went up last year to 48.32 billion, reaching their highest levels for six years, however the number of IPOs and the capital raised both fell sharply by 50% and 65% repsectively.

The report comes at a volatile time for global markets and the banking sector especially in the wake of the troubles facing Swiss bank Credit Suisse as well as the collapse of US-based Silicon Valley Bank.

Meanwhile the crypto exchange market is facing its own problems in ther wake of the FTX bankruptcy and widespread layoffs at other exchanges.