Foreign exchange transactions
Statistics on foreign exchange transactions are based on daily turnover data gathered from predefined reporting banks constituting a representative selection of the largest banks in the NOK market.
23 March 2025:
The foreign exchange transactions release for week 16 is postponed due to delayed reporting. Data for week 16 will be published as soon as the data is available.
Past week
Week 15 (7 April – 13 April)
Reporting banks net sales of foreign exchange at spot rates were equivalent to NOK 20.0 billion, and their net purchases of foreign exchange at forward rates were equivalent to NOK 24.1 billion. Foreign banks' net purchases of foreign exchange at spot rates were equivalent to NOK 24.5 billion, and financial customers' net purchases of foreign exchange at spot rates were equivalent to NOK 4.3 billion.
Non-financial customers' net sales of foreign exchange at forward rates were equivalent to NOK 17.0 billion, while financial customers' net sales of foreign exchange at forward rates were equivalent to NOK 6.4 billion. This week's net purchases of foreign exchange by the reporting banks in the swap market were equivalent to NOK 218.9 billion.
Next release: 23 April 2025 at 10:00 am.
Past three weeks
| Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spot | 12.2 | -1.3 | -20.0 |
| Forward | -2.6 | 7.1 | 24.1 |
| Swap | 232.1 | 246.5 | 218.9 |
About the statistics on foreign exchange transactions
Statistics on foreign exchange transactions are based on daily turnover data from the foreign exchange market collected from the largest banks in the NOK market. The transaction figures submitted by reporting banks provide detailed information about counterparties, types of contracts and currency pairs.
Reporting banks
To ensure that the statistics provide an accurate picture of activity in the foreign exchange market, data from entire banking groups are reported, i.e. all foreign exchange transactions at subsidiary banks, branches and the parent bank.
Counterparty groups
Reports submitted to Norges Bank cover nine different counterparties to foreign exchange transactions. These are:
- Other reporting banks
- Other foreign banks
- Norwegian banks other than reporting banks
- Other Norwegian financial clients
- Oil companies
- Norwegian non-financial clients excluding oil companies
- Foreign financial clients
- Foreign non-financial clients
- Norges Bank
In the tables, we have divided the counterparties into
- Reporting banks
- Foreign banks
- Financial clients
- Non-financial clients
- Norwegian clients
- Foreign clients
- Norges Bank
Definitions
Financial clients: Norwegian banks other than reporting banks, other Norwegian financial clients and foreign financial clients
Non-financial clients: Norwegian non-financial clients excluding oil companies, foreign non-financial clients and oil companies
Norwegian clients: Norwegian banks other than reporting banks, other Norwegian financial clients, oil companies and Norwegian non-financial clients excluding oil companies
Foreign clients: other foreign financial clients and foreign non-financial clients
Instruments/contract types
In banks’ daily reports, instruments are divided by spot, forward, swap and options where forward and swap are divided into six different categories of maturity. Spot is defined as contracts with 2 days maturity.
Forwards are reported by maturity:
- 0 to 1 day
- 3 days to 3 months
- 3 months to 6 months
- 6 months to 12 months
- 12 months to 2 years
- Over 2 years
Swaps are reported by the same maturities with the exception of the first category 0 to 2 days.
For swap transactions, only the long legs are reported. This reporting method is the same as in the “Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity” by the BIS and coincides with the market definition.
Statistics Norway, together with Norges Bank, has worked to ensure the quality of the data in the foreign exchange transactions statistics. Due to updating of conversion rates and a review of the reporting process, the data series have been corrected and updated back in time.