Korea's FX market grows but at slower pace than others: report

SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's foreign exchange (FX) market grew significantly over the past three years but at a slower pace than those of other major economies, the central bank said Tuesday.

In April, the daily FX trading volume here came to US$55.32 billion, up 15.7 percent from $47.81 billion in April 2016, the Bank of Korea said, citing a triennial report from the Bank of International Settlement (BIS).

The daily volume was the world's 15th largest, down one notch from three years earlier.

According to the BIS report, the daily global trading volume came to $6.6 trillion in April, up 30.1 percent from $5.1 trillion in April 2016.

Still, the ratio of South Korea's FX trading volume in the global market remained steady at 0.7 percent over the cited period.

Globally, FX spot trading jumped 20.3 percent to a daily average of about $2 trillion this year from 2016, while FX swaps spiked 34.6 percent to $3.2 trillion, accounting for 48.6 percent of overall FX trading.

The U.S. greenback continued to account for the largest share of FX trading at 88.3 percent of the total, up from 87.6 percent three years earlier.

The daily trading volume of over-the-counter interest rate derivatives more than doubled to $6.5 trillion from $2.7 trillion over the cited period.

South Korea's daily turnover of OTC interest rate derivatives grew 28.8 percent to $8.52 billion.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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