The overall level of systemic risk in EU securities markets decreased in 2012 as conditions in equity and bond markets improved, especially since July. The decline is linked to the announcement of Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) by the ECB in early August, which alleviated the pressure on Euro area sovereign bond markets and reduced uncertainty among market participants. However, risk indicators remain at high levels and increased again in the last two months of 2012. The main sources of risk are the on-going European sovereign debt and banking crisis, market clustering, funding risk, the low interest rate environment and obstacles to orderly market functioning