The WOCU is heavily used in the jet fuel industry and bunker oil used on ships. For example, Singapore-based Navitas Resources currently prices Marine bunker fuel in the WOCU and U.S. dollar, which enables shipping companies to pay in either currency for fuel price quotes at various ports around the world. The marine fuel market is valued at $100 billion per year.
What could catapult the WOCU to the forefront of a financial advisor's investment strategy is worldwide popularity. "If more companies employed the WOCU, their earnings could be higher from cutting down on currency hedging and fluctuations costs," says Chris Zeches, vice president, certified financial planner and chief investment officer of Zeches Financial Services in Phoenix. "Companies could also potentially provide more accurate earnings estimates using the WOCU, improving investor confidence and potentially increasing the stock market."
A larger trend emerging is creating customized baskets of currency, such as EWI's Stable Currency Index, which is comprised of equal-value portions of the Swiss franc, the Singapore dollar, the New Zealand dollar and the U.S. dollar. "We see the industry and government heading towards coming up with their own basket of currency because no one wants to be told what the reference basket will be," says Merk. "The interest varies but there's plenty of liquidity in the market to do it the way you want. Overtime, participants will embrace derivatives more actively, which will drive down the cost of the WOCU."
The consensus among experts and critics is that converting to the SDR or the WOCU would take time and money and hedging the risk of currency devaluation would be the biggest expense of all.