The Bank for International Settlements released the results of its triennial survey into Foreign exchange and derivatives market activity at the beginning of September. The survey, reflecting market activity in April 2010, is the eighth in a series conducted every three years since 1989.
Coordinated by the BIS, 53 central banks and monetary authorities collected data from 1,309 banks and other dealers (compared with 1,260 in 2007) on turnover in FX instruments. The headline figure showed that of aggregate average daily turnover (the sum of figures for spot, outrights, swaps, currency swaps, and options) of $3,981 billion, up almost 20% from $3,324 billion in 2007.
The biggest driver of the increase was spot FX trading: average daily turnover was up almost 50% at $1,490 billion in April 2010 compared with $1,005 billion in April 2007. Turnover in FX swaps was up marginally at $1,765 billion a...
