London consolidates lead in global foreign exchange markets

Britain's dominant grip on the global foreign exchange market has tightened to such an extent over the past 12 months that almost a third of the world's currency trading transactions now take place in this country.

Average daily turnover on the UK's foreign exchange market reached $1.1 trillion (£587bn) in April 2006, the last month for which figures are available from an annual survey by International Financial Services London (IFSL).

The trade body, which promotes the UK's financial services industry, said this represented 41 per cent growth on the same month in 2005. The UK expanded more quickly than any other foreign exchange market, with the whole of the world market rising in size by 38 per cent last year.

"The rapid growth in the volume of foreign exchange turnover over the past two decades reflects the continuing growth of international trade and expansion in global finance and investment," said Mark Maslakovic, the senior economist at IFSL. "The UK, and London in particular, is by far the largest global market for foreign exchange trading, well ahead of the US and Japan."