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Foreign exchange (FX) settlement giant CLS has announced that Actinver, BNP Paribas, Citibank and J.P. Morgan are live on its blockchain-based payment netting service, CLSNet.
CLSNet was developed for, and in collaboration with, buy-side and sell-side institutions. It is a standardized, automated bilateral payment netting service for over 120 currencies operating on a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. The service went live in Nov. 2018 with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
In a press release, CLS said that nine market participants are now live on CLSNet, including Bank of America, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Goldman Sachs, Intesa Sanpaolo and Morgan Stanley. It expects several other market participants to join the service over the coming year.
“The addition of these latest participants is testament to the value which CLSNet is delivering to the FX market. The service continues to gain flow and participants and is operating efficiently. We will continue to invest in the growth and resilience of the service and have a roadmap of enhancements that will further expand the value proposition to clients,” Alan Marquard, Chief Business Development Officer, CLS, said.
CLSNet standardizes and increases the levels of payment netting in the FX market, thereby enhancing intraday liquidity, operational efficiency and risk mitigation for non-CLS-settled currencies, many of which are in emerging markets that are growing faster than those in current CLS jurisdictions.
CLS said that the service can be used directly by non-CLS banks and the buy side, enabling a wider group of market participants to benefit from the reduction in operational costs and risk the service delivers.
“CLSNet will bring efficiencies in the FX settlement for non-CLS settled transactions and provide other valuable benefits to our FX business,” Brian Gallagher, Managing Director, Markets Operations, J.P. Morgan, said.
