I am writing to seek your assistance in the Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity.

The survey is part of the globally coordinated survey organised by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). As you may recall, the survey is held every three years. In the last survey in 1995, Hong Kong ranked seven among all participating centres with an average turnover of foreign exchange and interest rate derivatives of US$74 billion per day. The coming survey will provide useful and up-to-date information on the latest developments in the market.

To facilitate international comparison, we have prepared the questionnaire based on the forms proposed by the BIS. The purpose of this survey is to collect data on the foreign exchange and derivatives turnover for the month of April ("the turnover survey"). There will be a second survey to collect data on the outstanding amounts of derivatives as at 30 June ("the amount outstanding survey"). The survey forms for the amount outstanding survey will be sent to selected authorised institutions for completion at a later stage. We have consulted the Hong Kong Association of Banks, the Securities Futures Commission and the Deposit Taking Companies Association on the survey forms and they have indicated support for our participation in the surveys.

The forms on "the turnover survey" are attached at Appendix I. A diskette containing the survey in the form of an Excel spreadsheet is enclosed for your institution's use. I would appreciate it if your institution could provide the data in the diskette provided, and return it to us by 29 May 1998. Please be assured that all information related to individual institutions will be kept confidential.

To facilitate our contact with the appropriate officer(s) in your institution on survey-related matters, please indicate in the reply slip at Appendix II the name(s) of the officer(s) responsible for completing the survey questionnaire and return it to us by 31 March 1998.

Should you have any enquiries on the survey, please do not hesitate to contact the following officers:

Mr. Daniel Wong 2878 8284
Mr. William Wong 2878 8210
Miss Carmen Sham 2878 1623

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

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Updated on 18 Mar 1998