The rise of UBS to the top of Euromoney's foreign
exchange market share ranking this year proves how ill
advised it is for any bank to declare itself the master of
any financial market. Even in those sectors where a handful
of banks appear to have achieved unassailable pre-eminence,
newcomers can always break in. Seats at the top table are
never reserved in perpetuity.
In 2001, according to calculations based on responses from 659
large institutional customers, the top six banks between them
commanded a 41.5% share of the foreign exchange market.
UBS Warburg wasn't one of them.
It lay in seventh position with a market share of just 3.55%
compared with market leader Citigroup's 9.74%. Two years later it
has hit the top spot with a market share of 11.5%....
