Turnover continues to be dominated by the four major currencies. The US dollar makes up one leg in 85 per cent of transactions, the euro is used in close to 40 per cent of transactions and the Japanese yen is used in around 20 per cent of transactions. The British pound is exchanged in around 13 per cent of deals, with the share of turnover conducted in the British pound continuing to fall. The Australian dollar is now the fifth most traded currency, up from sixth in the previous survey, and the share of Australian dollar transactions conducted offshore continued to increase. By currency pair, growth in turnover of the EUR/USD pair eased to 24 per cent, with total turnover in the EUR/USD market accounting for more than one-quarter of global turnover. The AUD/USD cross remains the fourth most traded currency pair.
The pattern of growth across instruments differed from the previous three-year period. Spot turnover increased by 48 per cent over the three years to April 2010, following a 59 per cent increase over the previous three years. In contrast, turnover in foreign exchange swaps increased by only 3 per cent, compared with an 80 per cent rise between 2004 and 2007. As a result, the share of spot transactions in total turnover has increased to 37 per cent from 30 per cent, while the share of turnover accounted for by foreign exchange swaps fell to 44 per cent from 52 per cent (Graph 2). Turnover in the other instruments – forwards, cross-currency swaps, and OTC options – continues to be much lower on average than for spot and foreign exchange swaps.[2]