The New Zealand dollar has slipped four places in the rankings for the world's most traded currency after being over taken by the Singapore dollar, Swedish krona, Korean won and Norwegian krone.

The Bank of International Settlements' (BIS) latest survey showed the New Zealand dollar was now ranked 14th, after holding the number 10 spot since 2010.

The US dollar retained the number one spot - being on one side of 88 percent of all foreign exchange trades - followed by the euro and the Japanese yen respectively.

Foreign exchange trading continued to be concentrated in the world's largest financial centres; the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan where 78 percent of all foreign exchange trading takes place.

The United Kingdom remained the most important foreign exchange trading location globally, with 38 percent of global turnover.

In defending the latest result, the Reserve Bank assistant governor and general manager of Economics, Financial Markets and Banking Karen Silk said the New Zealand dollar continued to trade well.

"While being overtaken by some of our peers in a volatile period, the New Zealand dollar continues to trade with a disproportionate frequency relative to the size of the New Zealand economy," she said.

The survey involved central banks and other authorities in 52 jurisdictions and more than 1200 banks and other dealers.

- RNZ.