This may all be a mere coincidence, but it may equally be a coincidence worth noticing.

When those rumours erupted last week about Goldman threatening to move teams overseas in response to the bonus tax, FX teams (along with prop trading and operations) were among those said to be in line for migration.

When Standard Chartered established a trading floor in Dubai in 2007, London-based FX staff were among the 50-100 people who moved.

And when UBS wanted to improve efficiencies in 2006, it shifted some of its FX trading operations to Zurich.

Does this imply that FX trading roles are particularly mobile and that FX businesses in particular are likely to disappear from London? Maybe.

As things stand, London is the largest global centre for FX trading, accounting for around a third of the total. However, smaller markets like Singapore are up and coming and Zurich/Geneva share London’s time zone advantages.

Source: IFSL Research

Headhunters say they’ve heard no rumours that FX in particular will be spirited out of London (the Goldman gossip was apparently spurious). But the high and growing proportion of FX trading that’s done electronically (see below), makes the business more than usually mobile.

“FX is a low touch business,” says a senior markets professional in one European bank. “There’s less face to face contact than in other product areas. From that point of view, proximity to clients is less necessary.”

Mobility aside, recruiters aren’t expecting much in the way of FX hiring in 2010. Although Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley have signaled a possible appetite for building in FX, Citigroup analysts are predicting revenues in the area could fall as much as 25% this year.

“Net, hiring will be small. There’s a lot of automation coming into FX and banks are looking to grow without adding headcount,” says Peter Harwood at Principal Search.

“It’s too early in the year to say for certain what’s happening. Headcount restrictions are being lifted and there is notably more hiring activity, but there’s few signs of any real large scale build outs by firms at the moment,” says Neil Price at Michael Williams Associates.