CLS February Forex settlement volume up 2.7% MoM

CLS Group (CLS), the market infrastructure provider of risk mitigation services to the global FX market today published its operating metrics for February 2017.

The average daily volume submitted to CLS was US$1.5 trillion, up 2.7% MoM from US$1.46 trillion in January 2017.

CLS also announced that is changing its reporting methodology to align with BIS, trading platforms and central banks.

CLS will now report FX data for spot FX, FX forwards and FX swap transactions on a monthly basis based on executed trade volumes, which include only one side of any trade, and only one of the four legs of FX swap trades to avoid double counting the total amount of trades.

Previously, CLS reported settlement input volumes (number of tickets or payment instructions) and settlement input values (total US dollar amount) processed by the CLS settlement service on a daily basis. The settlement input volumes include payment instructions on both sides of any trade and the far leg of FX swaps.

While CLS follows the conventions used by the BIS, trading platforms and central banks in reporting FX trading activity, some differences remain with the BIS and central bank surveys. In particular, the surveys include activity that do not attract settlement risk and are not submitted to CLS. For example, the surveys include internal trades and both the original and give-up trades of prime brokered activity. Neither internal trades nor the original trade of prime brokered activity attract settlement risk and so are absent from the CLS numbers.