Five years' hard work pays off for Danske

In the individual categories, Danske also displaced SEB at the top of the bank votes, while rising to third place in corporates, two places up from last year.

Niklas Karlsson, global head of FX spot and options at Danske in Copenhagen, said the bank had not acted any differently in the last year. He said the top prize is the result of five years' hard work. "It has been a long process; five years ago we were low in the rankings and this is something we wanted to put right," he said.

"Now we serve banks on the basis of our good liquidity and pricing information. A few years back, banks were competitors and giving good prices was not a priority - they were not core clients as they are now."

Karlsson added that Danske's improved profile in FX trading has also alerted rival banks over the past couple of years. "I have lost some very good traders to banks, such as ABN Amro in Amsterdam and BNP Paribas in Paris in recent years. It is always sad to see them go, but it does show what a good team we have here and that it is being recognised."

Meanwhile, SEB moved up one place to top the corporate votes, but slipped two places to fourth in the investor votes.