Banco Santander has seen the expansion and success of its FX business extend into Argentina over the review period. Significant developments include its developing non-deliverable forwards (NDF) currency solutions, enabling clients to trade Latam currencies offshore while maintaining onshore delivery. This expansion is driven by growing trade corridors between Asia and Latam and currency rebalancing trends.

With a robust historical foundation as a key bank for the German Mittelstand – firms which collectively account for the largest share of the country's economic output – and a core partner for institutional clients, Commerzbank has leveraged its deep client relationships to drive advancements in providing FX services to its established client base in Germany.

JPMorgan has taken a multifaceted approach to enhancing its FX business in North America, with a focus on automation, client customization and technological upgrades across various business lines.

UBS has built a formidable reputation as a key liquidity provider across institutional, retail, corporate and wealth management domains, leveraging its expansive market liquidity, product scale and global distribution network.

During the review period, Barclays’ focus in the FX algo space has been on enhancing its client experience by improving overall algo performance and increasing platform flexibility to facilitate targeted algo customization. This client-centric approach resulted in the further broadening and refinement of its BARX Gator algo suite. Added to this, Barclays’ established franchise, adaptability and deep infrastructure interconnectivity contribute to the current reputation and standing in the market of the algo offering. The bank’s global teams, quants, and dedicated resources ensure continuous optimization and deliver top-tier, tailored solutions to its clients.

TD Bank Group (TD) offers a comprehensive retail foreign exchange service across North America, providing currency rates, payments, and banknote products around the clock through over 2,000 branches. This includes 14 FX centres in Canada, where customers can access over 50 currencies either by pre-order or on-demand.

Wells Fargo has reached important milestones by expanding its global pricing distribution network and platform connectivity.

State Street views FX as primarily a relationship-driven business and its investment focus reflects this partnership with its clients. As a principal FX business, State Street offers clients multiple execution choices with comprehensive electronic pricing capabilities, including a suite of dynamic algorithms and analytics tools, competitive benchmark solutions coupled with automated rules-based workflows.

UBS’s acquisition of Credit Suisse boosted its capabilities in the Swiss FX market. Already a dominant player in Switzerland, the deal allowed the bank to offer a comprehensive range of FX services to a larger, more diverse client base. It also enabled it to deepen its expertise, particularly in the Swiss franc market, where client demand for specialized insights is growing.

Over the last year, Deutsche Bank has played a pivotal role in the development of financial markets in the Asia-Pacific region, assisting clients in navigating the evolution of the FX markets amidst volatility and uncertainty.

Banco Santander's Latam FX product offering has evolved over the review period, driven by strategic investment and a focus on meeting its client needs. Key developments include expanding the global volatility product to Latin America, particularly Brazil and Mexico, integrating local expertise with global pricing and risk management. This has enabled the launch of new currency options and expanded Latam crosses, offering clients tailored hedging solutions with improved pricing and risk management.

HSBC has established itself as a leader in the corporate foreign exchange space by continuously developing innovative solutions. The bank provides liquidity across a range of channels and has consistently ranked in the top three on external platforms with a heavy corporate presence.

Over the past year, Barclays has developed its offering for real-money clients, notably through enhancements to the performance of its online FX trading channel BARX, enhancing spot liquidity and boosting algo flexibility. Using client feedback and behaviour analysis, Barclays also broadened and refined its algo suite, which significantly benefits real-money customers. Barclays offers market-leading insights, especially on UK policy and politics, and maintains tight spreads around economic events. Additionally, Barclays led client discussions on T+1 settlement, reinforcing its role as a key thought partner and strengthening client relationships.

In 2023 and 2024, Banco Santander Chile enhanced its FX ecosystem to improve client experience from account opening to transaction completion. Key developments included launching several platforms: a new single-dealer platform with immediate settlement and robust security; an international transfer platform for easy, secure Swift transfers; and a 100% digital platform for individual transfers across Latam, the US and Europe. Additionally, the bank’s Más Lucas initiative offers basic accounts for unbanked and underbanked persons, and new digital foreign currency accounts (JPY, CNH, GBP, EUR, USD) enable retail and CIB customers to manage FX positions efficiently, supported by digital and voice services.

UBS expanded its FX sales capabilities by leveraging cutting-edge tools and platforms to enhance operational efficiency and client engagement.

JPMorgan has continued to demonstrate innovation and growth in FX options by enhancing product offerings, expanding platform integrations and strengthening client engagement. The results speak for themselves – JPMorgan’s market share for FX options direct client execution rose by 7% year-on-year.

UBS has increased its investment and development of leading FX technology builds notably over the past three years, especially since its recent acquisition of Credit Suisse, with a number of significant innovations having been brought to market this year.

Stanbic Bank Tanzania’s (SBT) FX operations experienced impressive growth, with FX revenue doubling year-over-year.

JPMorgan has significantly strengthened its presence in the Nordic FX markets by leveraging its role as a key liquidity provider, offering innovative trading technology and analytics, and achieving impressive market share across key currencies.

State Street is a global powerhouse in FX and has positioned its research as a key differentiator in its market-leading sales offering. Over the review period, the bank introduced new measures for monitoring political risk and improved its capturing of changes in investor and central bank behaviour.

UBS has continued to evolve the FX offering on its UBS Neo platform over the past four years, with the bank making significant strategic investments in the last 12 months that further refine the offering.

HSBC continues to develop its market-leading franchise in global non-deliverable forwards (NDF). With operations now spanning 25 key NDF jurisdictions, including Brazil, Taiwan and Korea, coupled with a sales presence in nearly 50 locations and dedicated e-FX sales teams, HSBC provides clients with market colour in local market dynamics.

TD Securities has implemented comprehensive global and regional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies across the business, with the FX team ensuring that it also has a targeted approach.

Warba Bank has made impressive strides in its provision of institutional FX services to the local market, focusing on innovation, automation and client-centric financial solutions.

A dominant player in the Omani market, Bank Muscat offers comprehensive FX payment solutions to both corporate and individual clients, facilitating remittances and trade-related payments in 29 currencies.

BBVA has maintained a strong presence in the Peruvian FX market, holding a leading role for the past six years.

UBS has demonstrated resilience and adaptability in the face of significant organizational changes and challenging market conditions, maintaining a strong focus on differentiated client service through consistent liquidity provision, competitive pricing and innovative content.

Since its launch in 2014, Bank of America’s (BofA) transactional FX business has quickly risen to become one of the top three global players. This success reflects the bank's strategic vision, innovative products and global reach, enabling it to secure a strong market position and stand out in the competitive FX industry.

TD Securities (TDS) places client services at the heart of its FX data management strategy. The bank aims to provide a personalized, comprehensive service, transforming client data into actionable insights that enhance its FX offerings. By leveraging advanced forecasting models, trading signals and FX portfolios, it aims to empower clients with the strategies needed to navigate the complexities of the global FX market.

Banco Popular Dominicano (BPD) is the largest private bank in the Dominican Republic, recognized as a leader in the FX market with a 21% market share of USD/DOP transactions as of May 2024. During the review period, the bank has seen significant growth in FX derivatives, particularly in non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) for the USD/DOP pair, driven by increasing demand from its clients seeking to hedge their FX positions. BPD offers both NDFs and full-delivery forwards of up to 180 days in USD/DOP and EUR/USD, catering to large corporate clients, including those in the beverage and manufacturing industries.