CLS Group, a leading provider of risk mitigation and settlement services for FX dealers and institutions, on Wednesday reported its operational metrics for August 2018, which moved lower on a monthly basis but reflected a slight improvement across executed trade volumes when weighed against the figures of a year back.
Average daily traded volume submitted to CLS was down in August 2018 by two percent month-over-month at $1.605 trillion compared with $1.638 trillion reported back in July 2018. Across a yearly timetable, the figure reflected an advance by 1.6 percent relative to August 2017’s figure of $1.581 trillion.
CLS reported Swaps volumes at $1.097 trillion in August 2018, down from $1.115 trillion in July 2018, a fall of 1.6 percent month-over-month. However, the figure was higher by a factor of 4.3 percent year-over-year from $1.052 trillion a year ago.
In terms of CLS’ spot FX volume, the group has reported the figure at $425 billion in August 2018, shedding 1.8 percent month-over-month relative to $433 billion in the year prior. The figure was higher by 2.1 percent over a monthly basis from the $416.0 billion set in the previous month.
The mixed performance was again pronounced across CLS forwards business which yielded a figure of $83 billion last month, down -22 percent month-over-month from $107 billion in July, and was also reflective of a -13.5 percent drop year-over-year from $96 billion in August 2017.
CLS CEO to Leave
Effective January 2018, CLS shifted its reporting methodology for FX data. The figures are now reported based on one side of FX transactions and only one of the four legs of FX swap trades, in line with BIS standards and Foreign Exchange Committee market reports, and thus it avoids double counting the total amount of trades.
Earlier this week, CLS Group announced a major change of its senior leadership, after its long-serving Chief Executive Officer David Puth announced plans to resign from his role this month.
Following the surprise departure of Puth, who served as the CEO of CLS Group for nearly six years, the provider of risk mitigation services has installed Chairman Kenneth Harvey as the interim chief executive until a successor is named. In addition, CLS directors Bryan Osmar and Rick Sears will take on the roles of Chairmen of the Board of CLS Group Holdings AG and CLS Bank International, respectively.
