Continuing the trend from previous surveys, growth in turnover was driven by demand from ‘other financial institutions’ such as pension funds and hedge funds, particularly for spot foreign exchange.[3] As a result, for the first time in the history of the survey, turnover between dealers and other financial institutions was higher than turnover within the interdealer market. In contrast, turnover with non-financial institutions fell, driven by a marked decrease in their use of foreign exchange swaps.
Turnover in the foreign exchange market is driven by a range of factors. There is underlying demand from customers for foreign exchange resulting from international trade and cross-border investment. In addition, turnover may be influenced by new technology or changes in the trading behaviour of the market participants. Over the past three years, both economic and structural factors have been at play in driving developments in turnover.
The global financial crisis and its effect on economic activity have contributed to the slower rate of growth in overall turnover than over the previous three years. Global trade is an important driver of spot and forward turnover, especially for non-financial institutions such as importers and exporters, because for most transactions at least one party must exchange its domestic currency for the invoice currency. There is also some additional turnover generated by dealers who manage the risk created by these customer transactions by laying off positions in the interdealer market. Measured over the three years to April 2010 (to match the period of the Triennial Survey), global trade increased by 15 per cent, compared to growth of almost 50 per cent over the previous three years (Graph 3). Slower trade growth is consistent with slower growth in turnover by non-financial institutions, at least partially explaining the 10 per cent fall in turnover between dealers and non-financial customers observed between 2007 and 2010.