Introduction
The foreign exchange market weathered the global financial crisis better than many other financial markets, with turnover increasing by 20 per cent between 2007 and 2010 to US$4 trillion per day. However, the significant impact of the crisis on international trade and cross-border investment flows contributed to growth in foreign exchange turnover slowing from the rapid pace seen prior to 2007, particularly in the foreign exchange swap market. An exception is the continued strong growth in spot turnover, which has been driven by growth in relatively new market segments – such as high-frequency trading – associated with the ongoing development of new technologies. Drawing on the 2010 BIS Triennial Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Markets, this article explores activity in the global foreign exchange markets over the past three years and discusses the impact of the financial crisis. It then describes some of the key structural changes that have been influential over the past few years and some distinctive features of the Australian foreign exchange market.
Global Turnover
Global foreign exchange turnover grew by 20 per cent over the three years to April 2010 to reach almost US$4 trillion per day (Graph 1, Table 1).[1] This rate of growth was slower than the rapid 72 per cent increase observed over the previous three years and was similar across regions, with no change in the ranking of the major foreign exchange markets. The United Kingdom remains the largest market by location, accounting for over one-third of global turnover in all currencies, followed by the United States and Japan. All three major markets experienced growth of between 20 and 25 per cent over the past three years and their share of global turnover by location increased by 3 percentage points to 61 per cent. Australia remains the seventh largest geographical market, accounting for around 4 per cent of global turnover. The share of cross-border transactions (i.e. where the counterparties are in different jurisdictions) has continued to increase, reaching 65 per cent of global turnover in 2010, up from 62 per cent in 2007.