Staff Working Paper No. 1,154
By Gerardo Ferrara and Helene Hall
Using granular transaction-level data, this paper investigates the characteristics and implications of dealer-client trading relationships in the over-the-counter FX derivatives market. We first document that dealer-client trading relationships are persistent over time. Then, to shed light on the role of relationship strength for client access to these instruments during times of dealer stress, we examine the collapse of Credit Suisse in March 2023. In this episode, although Credit Suisse’s EURUSD notional traded and trade count declined sharply, clients who had previously relied less heavily on Credit Suisse did not differentially reduce their Credit Suisse-specific trading activity relative to more reliant clients. Instead, clients who had previously relied more heavily on the bank were able to substitute to other existing dealer relationships without incurring additional costs. Overall, these findings suggest that search and bargaining frictions were not particularly costly for heavily reliant clients after the shock: relationship persistence did not differentially prevent them from reallocating activity to existing alternative dealers when their relationship dealer came under stress.
This version was updated in March 2026.
The Staff Working Paper was first published on 14 November 2025 under the title ‘The value of trading relationships in FX derivatives: evidence from Credit Suisse's collapse’.
Trading relationships in FX derivatives: lessons from Credit Suisse’s collapse
