Is HK a threat to S'pore's lead in Asia FX trading?

SINGAPORE remains the world's third largest foreign exchange (FX) centre and Asia's biggest, according to the 2016 Triennial Central Bank Survey by the Bank for International Settlement. This is no mean feat but with perennial rival Hong Kong snapping at its heels, an interesting question is whether the Republic's status as the largest FX Asian centre is under threat.

The survey results, which were released early this month, showed that Singapore's FX average daily trading volume jumped 35 per cent from three years ago to US$517 billion in April 2016.

The expansion in Singapore's FX market was chiefly driven by growth in G-10 (which has the most heavily traded currencies in the world) and Asian currencies. The currencies which increased the most included the yuan (78 per cent), yen (67 per cent), sterling (60 per cent) and South Korean won (55 per cent).