Hong Kong, the 5th largest foreign exchange trading centre
Hong Kong has become the fifth largest centre for foreign exchange trading, up from the sixth in 1992, according to a series of surveys conducted by central banks and monetary authorities under the auspices of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS).
Hong Kong overtook Switzerland to clinch the fifth position after the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan and Singapore.
The net daily turnover in the Hong Kong foreign exchange market was US$91 billion on the average day in April 1995. This represents almost 50 per cent growth over the turnover of US$61 billion recorded in April 1992 and 14 per cent average annual growth rate. This growth rate is higher than in most other centres.
"We are pleased to see that Hong Kong has moved one notch up in the global survey. Our foreign exchange market is growing robustly. This further strengthens our position as an international financial centre," said the Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang.
The BIS survey is conducted every three years and a report on the consolidated global results on foreign exchange trading will be issued in October.
This year the BIS survey has been expanded to include derivatives on interest rates, equities and commodities. Information on this part of the survey is expected to be released in November and full global results covering both parts of the survey are scheduled for release by BIS next year.
Most financial centres reported that the bulk of the increase in trading came from short-term foreign exchange swaps, which was also the case in Hong Kong. Generally about two-thirds to three-quarters of transactions were with foreign banks, again similar to Hong Kong. Dollar-yen and dollar-mark were the major type of transactions in global markets.