Dollar Dominance Intact as U.S. Fines on Banks Raise Ire

The record fine imposed on France’s largest bank over transactions in U.S. dollars revived European complaints about the greenback’s pre-eminence in global finance. History shows calls to supplant the currency will be futile.

The dollar hasn’t budged from its top spot for the past three decades, withstanding repeated efforts to unseat it. Almost 90 percent of the $5.3 trillion a day in foreign-exchange transactions last year involved the dollar, the same share as in 1989, data from the Bank for International Settlements show. More than 80 percent of trade finance was done in dollars in 2013, according to Swift, a global financial-messaging network.