Foreign exchange settlement specialist CLS will provide its netting calculation platform to clients of global FinTech provider Finastra under a new partnership.
Finastra’s clients, including over 800 corporate and buy-side firms, will gain access to the CLSNet platform following an integration between CLS and the Finastra Fusion confirmation matching service.
CLSNet aims to remove manual reconciliation netting processes by allowing users to view trades that are expected to settle with relevant counterparties and make net settlement payment calculations on a per currency basis. FX participants can use CLSNet to net payment amounts directly with counterparties before settling through the correspondent banking system.
Both firms said many market participants typically manage the bilateral settlement process via email and this manual process poses operational risk. They added the partnership comes amid increased demand for a centralised infrastructure for managing post-trade operations.
“In response to market demand, we are evolving CLSNet to support the partnerships and connectivity options necessary to ensure broad-based adoption and, additionally, exploring new functionality related to emerging market currencies,” said Keith Tippell, global head of product at CLS.
“The partnership with Finastra is an important step in this evolution and a good example of two major FX ecosystem service providers collaborating for the benefit of their customers and the FX market as a whole.”
Earlier this year, investment banks JP Morgan, Citi, and BNP Paribas went live with CLSNet to automate their bilateral netting payments.
“Given the sharp focus within the FX markets on all risks associated with the settlement process, we see great value in this collaboration which should enable a wide range of market participants to seamlessly adopt and benefit from the standardised processes implemented by CLSNet,” Leigh Meyer, global head of FX operations at Citi, commented.