Explanatory notes
The format of the foreign exchange turnover part of the Triennial Central Bank Survey was refined and
clarified in 2013. Below is a summary of the main changes:
A more detailed counterparty breakdown is available for “other financial institutions”.
The list of currencies for which comprehensive and internationally consistent data are collected
has been expanded. In addition to the eight major currencies, 16 other widely traded
currencies have been singled out where reporting across jurisdictions has been harmonised to
enhance the quality of the data. The list of currency pairs for which data are collected has also
been expanded.
Dealers were requested to report information on their deals with clients via prime brokerage
relationships. Data on retail-driven transactions were also collected.
Additional information on turnover of non-deliverable forwards was requested from reporting
dealers, with separate identification of six emerging market currency pairs.
Execution methods have been clarified to disentangle methods from counterparties, and to
distinguish more clearly between electronic and voice execution.
Reporting dealers have been asked to provide complementary information on algorithmic and
high-frequency trading in spot FX as well as on centrally cleared OTC derivatives transactions.
Notwithstanding these changes, the data collected for the 2013 survey are largely comparable
to those of the previous survey in 2010.