New York/ London, November 15th 2012 – CLS Group (CLS), the market infrastructure that enhances financial stability by providing risk mitigation services to the global FX market, today announced the addition of Swedbank as a CLS Settlement Member. This increases to 62 the number of financial institutions that are CLS Settlement Members.

Originally a third party participant for several years, Swedbank became a CLS Shareholder in 2011 as part of its onboarding process to become a Settlement Member.

As a CLS Settlement Member, Swedbank is now able to realize additional benefits including liquidity, operational and IT efficiencies, as well as business growth and new revenue opportunities through increased trading capacity. Being a CLS Settlement Member also provides Swedbank with the opportunity to offer CLS services to third parties and the provision of Nostro services.

“I am pleased that Swedbank has become a Settlement Member,” said David Puth, Chief Executive Officer of CLS. “This underscores the central role that CLS plays in the global foreign exchange market, by mitigating settlement risk while enhancing liquidity and operational efficiencies. Participation in CLS continues to grow and we look forward to welcoming new members and currencies as we evolve further.”

"I am happy that we have joined CLS as a Settlement Member” said Tomas Hedberg, Global Head of FX and Fixed Income at Swedbank. “Membership is in line with our ambition to further develop our FX abilities and enables us to provide a high level of security which is crucial for a major player in the finance industry.”

Since launching in 2002 with 39 Settlement Members, CLS has become fundamental to the FX market. Its Members include many of the world’s leading financial institutions, in addition to an expanding community of more than 9,000 third party participants.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker