One of the key utilities to the foreign Exchange market participants, CLS Group (CLS), has announced that the company will be launching a brand new market insfratructure interface. The solution has been developed in close cooperation with the company's clients in order to mitigate the legacy issues which have been an infrastructure challenge to many outdated systems.
The members of CLS will benefit from a new interface that is scalable and is aimed at meeting the demands of the future. Currently about 66 of the world's largest financial institutions are direct participants in CLS. The company also has over 21,000 third-party clients globally that include banks, asset managers, hedge funds and non-bank financial institutions that are using the firm's services via intermediaries.
The company has closely consulted with its clients and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), to design an appropriate infrastructure solution for the 21st century. The end product is certified by SWIFT's ISO standards and is completely replacing the previous proprietary solution which was also developed by CLS.
Commenting on the launch, the CEO of CLS, David Puth, said: “As part of our ongoing program of system and technology upgrades to our services and infrastructure, we undertook a thorough review of the existing system. We then worked closely with our settlement members and technology partners to develop a new member gateway that would meet the demands of the global FX community today and in the future.”
Morgan Stanley's Managing Director of Global Operations, Denise Sommerville, added: “We recognize the scale of technological change and transformation of the underlying architecture embedded within the member gateway and applaud CLS’s success in introducing this cutting-edge technology into the post-trade settlement process. Using the latest international technical standards, including standardized access to SWIFT ISO 20022 messaging, will reduce complexity and, in addition, simplify access and communication paths with international counterparties.”
“The new member gateway and market infrastructure channel is a scalable solution that offers greater flexibility and provides the performance and capacity required in a market environment driven by continuously evolving FX trading demands and growth. It will enhance Connectivity with our clients while also delivering financial savings to them over the long-term,” concluded the Head of Operations of CLS John Hagon.
