Vast amounts of transaction costs, uncertainty and suffering could have been prevented if the mortgage had been reduced pre-emptively and the family had stayed in its original home.
Financial services, in which vast amounts of transaction data are routinely stored and transmitted, but individuals and firms are deeply concerned about security and privacy, and complex legal requirements apply.
In the last few years, eBay has taken note of the small businesses that are selling on its site and developed tools to make it easier for them to conduct many transactions (and, of course, to allow eBay to collect large amounts of transaction fees).
If both health insurance deals fall through, the total amount of transactions would drop to $4.59 trillion, according to Dealogic.
"I'm encouraged by the volume of deals that are being done in this area versus the paltry amount of transactions elsewhere in the city," Mr. Maher said.
"There's no doubt it pays off dramatically, particularly for a site where people do a huge amount of transactions," Mr. Nielsen said.
Mr. Martin said there were hundreds of small- to medium-size drug companies with capital or capability needs, meaning there were an "enormous amount of transactions" Elan could do.
But trading partners and clearinghouses - dealing with a large amount of transactions and concerned about the welfare of MF Global - did not immediately return the cash to the brokerage firm, according to the people briefed on the transactions.
The law enforcement officials, who would not speak publicly because the settlement was not final, would not divulge the amount of the proposed penalty or the amount of transactions they believe violated the law.
ICAP had its highest amount of transactions as record oil prices and turmoil in the credit markets triggered the biggest fluctuations in bonds, stocks and currencies in at least six years.
