Deutsche top in trading

This solid performance can be put down to the comprehensive coverage the bank has with traders in different timezones giving extensive coverage across different regions.

Ralf Sellig, global head of spot trading in New York, said changes to the team have not affected this set-up. "We moved traders from Frankfurt to London and from Tokyo to Sydney and Singapore, but we still have coverage in these centres.

"It is important for us to be able to give consistent prices 24/7 and to have traders being able to talk directly to clients where ever they are."

He added that with spreads so tight it is important that banks can give additional information about what the market is doing to help clients.

However, Sellig said the increasing importance of e-commerce had enabled the bank to halve the size of the trading desk in Germany and cut back in Japan. "With the increased proportion of flow being traded electronically it is no longer necessary to have full-blown desks in every centre. Consolidating in this way enables us to match off flow more quickly, make prices more efficiently and channel our exposure to risk appropriately."

The importance of effective risk management was also cited by Mark Carrodus, global head of FX forwards trading, in London.

He said: "Our risk management framework enables us to manage flow that clients need. This goes hand in hand with being able to get prices to as many people as possible as efficiently as possible."

Carrodus said that having effective distribution is key to maintaining a dominant position.

"First and foremost, it's about getting prices to customers. In a market that is becoming increasingly commoditised having a distribution network that can get as many prices to as many people as possible is important.

"We continue to invest in how we distribute prices, both internally and externally," he said.