“Data Centre Capacity Has Not Been an Issue”: Brokers Are Confident in Singapore’s FX Growth

Monday, 16/03/2026 | 10:31 GMT by Paul Golden
  • The country handles $1 trillion daily, becoming the world’s third-largest FX centre.
  • FX spot, forwards, and swaps rose 42–61%, representing 90% of the city-state’s turnover.
Singapore

As FX trading volumes in Singapore continue to grow, market participants are confident that the connectivity and trading infrastructure are in place to support current and future market requirements.

FX Volumes Surge in Singapore

The most recent triennial central bank survey of the global FX and OTC derivatives market, conducted by the Bank for International Settlements, found that average daily FX trading volumes in Singapore increased by 60% between April 2022 and April 2025, driven by robust growth in US dollar, Japanese yen, and euro trading.

Volumes in FX spot, forwards, and swaps (which together accounted for 90% of Singapore’s turnover) rose by between 42% and 61%.

Singapore strengthened its position as the third largest FX centre in the world after the UK and the US, with its share of global FX volumes rising to 11.8% and accounting for almost $1 trillion of FX trading every day.

Singapore

MAS Highlights Liquidity Role

The executive director of the financial markets development department at MAS refers to deeper liquidity in the Asian time zone to support economic and hedging needs in the region as a key factor in this increase and highlighted Singapore’s role as an efficient price discovery hub.

Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.

Banks Anchor Regional FX Teams

With all of the top five global banks housing their regional FX sales and trading teams in Singapore, the city-state offers a deep and liquid market for the trading and hedging of G10 currencies, as well as Asian emerging market currencies.

Electronic Trading Demands Rise

Jean-Philippe Malé, CEO, SGX FX
Jean-Philippe Malé, CEO, SGX FX

As more trading shifts to electronic platforms, the demands on infrastructure naturally increase—especially during volatile periods when activity spikes. That is the view of Jean-Philippe Malé, CEO SGX FX, who is satisfied that infrastructure development has kept pace with the development of the FX market.

“The market continues to function smoothly, and that speaks to the depth of investment in infrastructure in Singapore,” he says. “We operate from Singapore to connect global participants to Asian currency risk with our on-premise and cloud-based environments to support trading at scale.”

Infrastructure Supports FX Expansion

Singapore is a highly advanced economy with world-class digital infrastructure and ubiquitous internet access, and Interactive Brokers sees growth in domestic clients using its institutional-grade FX rates in support of their trading of overseas assets.

Yujun Lin – CEO, Interactive Brokers Singapore
Yujun Lin, CEO, Interactive Brokers Singapore

“From our perspective, data centre capacity and trading bandwidth has not been an issue, and we are confident that the local infrastructure is more than capable of supporting future growth,” says Yujun Lin, CEO of Interactive Brokers Singapore.

Chaitanya Peddada, chief operating officer of Spark Systems (a Singapore-based fintech that develops ultra-low latency FX trading platforms and technology solutions), also observes that Singapore’s data centre infrastructure has broadly kept pace with the growth in electronic FX trading, particularly as the market has moved towards more continuous, automated execution.

Shift to Localised Processing

A key shift has been the move to localised processing and matching, which has reduced reliance on offshore infrastructure and improved latency for institutional participants.

“FX trading has become significantly more data-intensive,” he says. “Platforms are processing large volumes of market data, orders, and trade information on a near-continuous basis, placing increasing demands on infrastructure. As a result, the focus is on delivering consistent, sub-millisecond performance, resilience, and the ability to scale without introducing latency.”

Singapore Positioned for FX Growth

With strong global connectivity, sub-millisecond performance, and scalable infrastructure in place, Peddada reckons Singapore is well-positioned to support its continued expansion as a leading global FX trading hub.

Chaitanya Peddada, Chief Operating Officer, Spark Systems
Chaitanya Peddada, Chief Operating Officer, Spark Systems

From a sell-side perspective, Singapore’s data centres have on the whole kept up with demand, suggests Philip Huang, chief risk officer at Orient Futures Singapore.

“The infrastructure is stable and capable of supporting electronic FX trading,” he says. “That said, most liquidity in Asia is still concentrated in Tokyo (TY3), which remains the main price discovery centre. While Singapore (SG1) has strong CNH liquidity, broader G10 and regional FX liquidity is still largely anchored in Tokyo, New York, and London.”

MAS Builds E-Trading Infrastructure

Over the last few years, MAS has been working with banks and trading platforms to build up Singapore's e-trading infrastructure. The regulator hopes this will improve price discovery and FX trade execution in the region and provide market participants with reduced latency, better pricing, and liquidity.

According to Malé, Singapore already has the fundamentals it needs to support its future electronic FX ambitions in the form of deep liquidity, global participation, and strong regulatory oversight.

Philip Huang, Chief Risk Officer, Orient Futures Singapore
Philip Huang, Chief Risk Officer, Orient Futures Singapore

“That is why it consistently ranks among the top FX centres globally,” he says. “What is changing now is how firms trade, as more risk is managed across asset classes.

For us, FX is part of our broader multi-asset platform, which allows participants to manage currency exposure alongside equities, rates, and commodities. That integrated set-up strengthens Singapore’s role in a market that is becoming more electronic and interconnected.”

Connectivity and Matching Engines

Singapore’s rise as a major global FX centre has been closely linked to improvements in connectivity and trading infrastructure, and the city-state now benefits from strong regional and international network links, local matching capabilities, and an increasingly sophisticated institutional ecosystem—all of which support low-latency electronic trading, explains Peddada.

“From our perspective, the ability to operate local matching engines across key FX centres—including Singapore, Tokyo, London, and New York—plays an important role in mitigating latency in a global market,” he says. “By matching trades closer to end users, participants can access liquidity more efficiently without relying solely on offshore infrastructure.”

Future Electronic FX Challenges

Given Singapore’s status as a fast-growing and systemically important FX hub, Peddada believes the combination of low-latency infrastructure, deep connectivity, and institutional participation positions the market to play a leading role in the next phase of electronic FX development.

Huang also agrees that Singapore has the connectivity and technical infrastructure needed to support further growth in electronic FX trading, although he acknowledges that other challenges remain.

“The bigger issue is where pricing is generated,” he concludes. “Many liquidity providers still run their main pricing engines in other regional hubs. For Singapore to strengthen its position as an electronic FX hub, more liquidity providers would need to originate pricing directly from SG1 rather than simply distribute prices from other regional centres.”

As FX trading volumes in Singapore continue to grow, market participants are confident that the connectivity and trading infrastructure are in place to support current and future market requirements.

FX Volumes Surge in Singapore

The most recent triennial central bank survey of the global FX and OTC derivatives market, conducted by the Bank for International Settlements, found that average daily FX trading volumes in Singapore increased by 60% between April 2022 and April 2025, driven by robust growth in US dollar, Japanese yen, and euro trading.

Volumes in FX spot, forwards, and swaps (which together accounted for 90% of Singapore’s turnover) rose by between 42% and 61%.

Singapore strengthened its position as the third largest FX centre in the world after the UK and the US, with its share of global FX volumes rising to 11.8% and accounting for almost $1 trillion of FX trading every day.

Singapore

MAS Highlights Liquidity Role

The executive director of the financial markets development department at MAS refers to deeper liquidity in the Asian time zone to support economic and hedging needs in the region as a key factor in this increase and highlighted Singapore’s role as an efficient price discovery hub.

Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.

Banks Anchor Regional FX Teams

With all of the top five global banks housing their regional FX sales and trading teams in Singapore, the city-state offers a deep and liquid market for the trading and hedging of G10 currencies, as well as Asian emerging market currencies.

Electronic Trading Demands Rise

Jean-Philippe Malé, CEO, SGX FX
Jean-Philippe Malé, CEO, SGX FX

As more trading shifts to electronic platforms, the demands on infrastructure naturally increase—especially during volatile periods when activity spikes. That is the view of Jean-Philippe Malé, CEO SGX FX, who is satisfied that infrastructure development has kept pace with the development of the FX market.

“The market continues to function smoothly, and that speaks to the depth of investment in infrastructure in Singapore,” he says. “We operate from Singapore to connect global participants to Asian currency risk with our on-premise and cloud-based environments to support trading at scale.”

Infrastructure Supports FX Expansion

Singapore is a highly advanced economy with world-class digital infrastructure and ubiquitous internet access, and Interactive Brokers sees growth in domestic clients using its institutional-grade FX rates in support of their trading of overseas assets.

Yujun Lin – CEO, Interactive Brokers Singapore
Yujun Lin, CEO, Interactive Brokers Singapore

“From our perspective, data centre capacity and trading bandwidth has not been an issue, and we are confident that the local infrastructure is more than capable of supporting future growth,” says Yujun Lin, CEO of Interactive Brokers Singapore.

Chaitanya Peddada, chief operating officer of Spark Systems (a Singapore-based fintech that develops ultra-low latency FX trading platforms and technology solutions), also observes that Singapore’s data centre infrastructure has broadly kept pace with the growth in electronic FX trading, particularly as the market has moved towards more continuous, automated execution.

Shift to Localised Processing

A key shift has been the move to localised processing and matching, which has reduced reliance on offshore infrastructure and improved latency for institutional participants.

“FX trading has become significantly more data-intensive,” he says. “Platforms are processing large volumes of market data, orders, and trade information on a near-continuous basis, placing increasing demands on infrastructure. As a result, the focus is on delivering consistent, sub-millisecond performance, resilience, and the ability to scale without introducing latency.”

Singapore Positioned for FX Growth

With strong global connectivity, sub-millisecond performance, and scalable infrastructure in place, Peddada reckons Singapore is well-positioned to support its continued expansion as a leading global FX trading hub.

Chaitanya Peddada, Chief Operating Officer, Spark Systems
Chaitanya Peddada, Chief Operating Officer, Spark Systems

From a sell-side perspective, Singapore’s data centres have on the whole kept up with demand, suggests Philip Huang, chief risk officer at Orient Futures Singapore.

“The infrastructure is stable and capable of supporting electronic FX trading,” he says. “That said, most liquidity in Asia is still concentrated in Tokyo (TY3), which remains the main price discovery centre. While Singapore (SG1) has strong CNH liquidity, broader G10 and regional FX liquidity is still largely anchored in Tokyo, New York, and London.”

MAS Builds E-Trading Infrastructure

Over the last few years, MAS has been working with banks and trading platforms to build up Singapore's e-trading infrastructure. The regulator hopes this will improve price discovery and FX trade execution in the region and provide market participants with reduced latency, better pricing, and liquidity.

According to Malé, Singapore already has the fundamentals it needs to support its future electronic FX ambitions in the form of deep liquidity, global participation, and strong regulatory oversight.

Philip Huang, Chief Risk Officer, Orient Futures Singapore
Philip Huang, Chief Risk Officer, Orient Futures Singapore

“That is why it consistently ranks among the top FX centres globally,” he says. “What is changing now is how firms trade, as more risk is managed across asset classes.

For us, FX is part of our broader multi-asset platform, which allows participants to manage currency exposure alongside equities, rates, and commodities. That integrated set-up strengthens Singapore’s role in a market that is becoming more electronic and interconnected.”

Connectivity and Matching Engines

Singapore’s rise as a major global FX centre has been closely linked to improvements in connectivity and trading infrastructure, and the city-state now benefits from strong regional and international network links, local matching capabilities, and an increasingly sophisticated institutional ecosystem—all of which support low-latency electronic trading, explains Peddada.

“From our perspective, the ability to operate local matching engines across key FX centres—including Singapore, Tokyo, London, and New York—plays an important role in mitigating latency in a global market,” he says. “By matching trades closer to end users, participants can access liquidity more efficiently without relying solely on offshore infrastructure.”

Future Electronic FX Challenges

Given Singapore’s status as a fast-growing and systemically important FX hub, Peddada believes the combination of low-latency infrastructure, deep connectivity, and institutional participation positions the market to play a leading role in the next phase of electronic FX development.

Huang also agrees that Singapore has the connectivity and technical infrastructure needed to support further growth in electronic FX trading, although he acknowledges that other challenges remain.

“The bigger issue is where pricing is generated,” he concludes. “Many liquidity providers still run their main pricing engines in other regional hubs. For Singapore to strengthen its position as an electronic FX hub, more liquidity providers would need to originate pricing directly from SG1 rather than simply distribute prices from other regional centres.”

About the Author: Paul Golden
Paul Golden
  • 106 Articles
  • 12 Followers
About the Author: Paul Golden
Paul Golden is an experienced freelance financial journalist with a strong institutional background. Over the past two decades, he has written for globally recognised financial publications, covering topics such as market structure, regulation, trading behaviour, and economic policy.
  • 106 Articles
  • 12 Followers

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