Press release

Results of the Semi-annual Survey of Foreign Exchange and

Interest Rate Market Activity in Hong Kong (October 2020)

The Treasury Markets Association (TMA) announced today (Tuesday) the results of the Semi-annual Survey of Foreign Exchange and Interest Rate Market Activity in Hong Kong in October 2020, which covers turnover in both FX transactions and over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate derivatives transactions.  The TMA conducted the semi-annual survey to increase the transparency of the Hong Kong foreign exchange and over-the-counter interest rate derivatives market.

The semi-annual survey is developed based on the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) triennial survey on foreign exchange and derivatives market turnover, but with simplified reporting requirements.  Reporting basis of the semi-annual survey is the same as that of the triennial survey, i.e. primarily the location of the sales desk servicing the transactions.  A total of 60 financial institutions (comprising 57 authorized institutions and 3 licensed corporations) participated in the semi-annual survey.  To safeguard data confidentiality, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority provided support in data handling and survey administration.

In October 2020, average daily turnover of foreign exchange transactions amounted to US$564.6 billion.  US dollar and Renminbi was the most heavily traded currency pair in the Hong Kong market, followed by Hong Kong dollar and US dollar, and then US dollar and Euro.  Average daily turnover of interest rate derivatives amounted to US$223.6 billion.   Trading was most active in contracts denominated in Australian dollar, followed by New Zealand dollar and then US dollar.  More details can be found at Annex. 

The Australian Foreign Exchange Committee, the Canadian Foreign Exchange Committee, the New York Foreign Exchange Committee, the Singapore Foreign Exchange Market Committee, the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market Committee and the United Kingdom’s Foreign Exchange Joint Standing Committee conducted similar surveys over the same time period for respective markets.  The TMA endeavoured to collaborate with these organisations to announce the results on the same day.  The results of their surveys can be found at

https://www.afxc.rba.gov.au/statistics

https://www.cfec.ca/fx_volume.html

https://www.newyorkfed.org/fxc/volumesurvey/

https://www.sfemc.org/statistics.html

https://www.fxcomtky.com/index_e.html

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/markets/london-foreign-exchange-joint-standing-committee

Treasury Markets Association