Average daily foreign-exchange turnover in the UK reached a record $4.609tn in April, reinforcing the scale of London’s role in global currency trading and the financial infrastructure that supports it.
The Bank of England’s latest semi-annual survey of 25 financial institutions showed turnover increasing 20% from October 2025 and 14% compared with April last year. Activity rose across every major instrument type covered by the survey.
Foreign-exchange swaps recorded the largest absolute increase, rising by $332bn to an average $2.172tn each day. Spot trading increased 18% to $1.253tn, while daily options turnover climbed 49% to $309bn.
The leading currency pairs remained broadly unchanged. Dollar-euro was the most heavily traded, averaging $1.094tn per day and accounting for 24% of total UK turnover. Dollar-sterling and dollar-yen remained the next two most active pairs.
The expansion over the longer term is substantial. Average UK daily turnover has risen from $1.815tn in April 2008 to more than $4.6tn in the latest survey.
Foreign-exchange activity extends well beyond directional currency trading. International companies use the market to manage overseas revenues, costs, financing, and supply chains, while banks, asset managers, insurers, and other investors use currencies to settle international transactions and control portfolio risk.
The prominence of swaps is particularly important to wholesale finance. FX swaps allow institutions to exchange currencies for defined periods and are widely used for funding and liquidity management. Their share of UK turnover means the record figure reflects London’s position as an international financing centre as well as its role in outright currency dealing.
Periods of economic or geopolitical uncertainty can increase activity as companies and investors adjust hedges, reposition portfolios, or respond to changing expectations for interest rates and currencies. The April survey captures trading across an entire month rather than a single period of volatility, but turnover can still fluctuate substantially between reporting rounds.
Higher volumes also increase the demands placed on market infrastructure. Transactions pass through electronic dealing systems, prime brokers, custodians, settlement processes, market-data providers, compliance teams, and risk systems. Operational resilience and cybersecurity become more consequential as both the number and value of transactions grow.
Automation has altered the structure of the market as well. Electronic execution enables institutions to process large volumes quickly, while algorithms can split, route, and price trades across venues. That improves efficiency but places greater emphasis on system resilience, liquidity, and controls during volatile markets.
London has retained a major position in international financial markets despite changes to European trading arrangements after Brexit and increased competition from centres in North America, continental Europe, and Asia. Its concentration of banks, asset managers, legal advisers, technology providers, and market infrastructure continues to support large volumes of cross-border activity.
The Bank of England survey is not directly interchangeable with the Bank for International Settlements’ triennial global study. The UK exercise is conducted more frequently and records activity according to the location of the price-setting dealer, whereas the BIS uses the location of the sales desk.
Even with that distinction, the direction of travel is clear in the Bank’s own series. Daily turnover is now more than two-and-a-half times its April 2008 level, with swaps, spot transactions, and options all contributing to the latest increase.
Whether April represents a new sustained base or an unusually active period will become clearer in subsequent surveys. For now, the record underlines the continuing scale of the UK’s wholesale currency market and the infrastructure supporting international trade and finance through London.
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