Currencies
Global Banks’ Currency Desks Take 15% Hit on Volatility Slump
- Spot FX trading volumes dropped in first half: Expand Research
- FX volatility boosted in 2022 by Russia invasion, rate hikes
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A slump in market volatility has hit currency trading desks, squeezing banks’ margins, denting revenue and undermining the recovery from a plunge during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Foreign-exchange trading revenue fell 15% in the first half compared with a year earlier, according to figures from the top 100 banks collated by London-based BCG Expand Research. Without a second-half pickup, revenue could be heading for its second full-year decline in three years, after a drop in 2021.