Different Accounting Policies Mean Reported Forex Gains Mean Little

Although most major U.K. and U.S. banks continue to report foreign exchange trading income in their quarterly and semi-annual statements, what those numbers actually mean remains a subject of contention. The substantial differences between bank accounting policies--combined with the upheaval caused by recent moves to group treasury functions into bank capital markets divisions --mean the figures are less and less comparable between banks, and even between different years at the same bank, say