Woori Bank held the largest share of extended-hours trading in South Korea's spot foreign exchange market over the past year, while NH NongHyup Bank posted the highest off-hours share in total FX trading, which combines spot transactions and FX swaps.
The Seoul FX Market Committee released its 2026 Foreign Exchange Market League Table on the 26th. The data compiled spot FX, FX swap and total FX trading results from July 2025 to June 2026 for 98 institutions participating in the domestic FX market, including registered foreign institutions (RFIs).
Unlike last year, this year's league table did not disclose trading-volume rankings by institution. It listed the top seven institutions in each category in Korean alphabetical order, focusing on each institution's market participation since the FX market opened rather than on ranking competition based on trading size.
According to the committee, FX trading hours were extended from 3:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. the following day starting in July 2024, and participation in off-hours trading over the past year varied by bank.
In the spot FX market, Woori Bank recorded the highest extended-hours share at 51%, meaning it processed more than half of its total spot FX trading during extended hours. NH NongHyup Bank followed at 50%, then the Korea Development Bank at 43%, Kookmin Bank and Hana Bank at 36% each, and Shinhan Bank at 34%. Crédit Agricole's extended-hours share came to just 6%.
In total FX trading, which combines spot transactions and FX swaps, NH NongHyup Bank posted the highest extended-hours share at 43%. Woori Bank followed at 35%, then Hana Bank at 27%, Kookmin Bank at 25% and Shinhan Bank at 23%. Among foreign banks, JPMorgan Chase Bank recorded 16% and BNP Paribas 15%.
In the FX swap market, HSBC held the highest extended-hours share at 21%. Standard Chartered Bank Korea followed at 17%, Kookmin Bank and Hana Bank at 16% each, and JPMorgan Chase Bank at 15%.
A high extended-hours share does not necessarily mean a large overall trading volume, however. Seoul Money Brokerage Services explained that the league table tallies trading volume itself and applies no separate weighting by time of day. This differs from the method used to select leading banks, which reflects factors such as off-hours participation.
The removal of trading-volume rankings by institution this year is seen as partly reflecting the burden on market participants. Last year, rankings by trading volume were disclosed for each category, but this year only the top seven institutions were presented in Korean alphabetical order. As a result, direct ranking competition based on a particular institution's market share or trading size was effectively limited.
The Seoul FX Market Committee has released the FX market league table annually since 2025 to encourage more active trading and healthy competition among market participants following the opening of the FX market.
