Gottfried Leibbrandt
Chair of the Board Independent / Outside Director
Chair’s statement
With political, financial and environmental uncertainty showing no signs of abating, it is more important than ever for us to fulfil our purpose of strengthening the FX ecosystem’s resilience and efficiency.
Our commitment to constantly improving our services and ensuring resilience remains unwavering. In the face of ongoing uncertainty on a global scale, our services must continue to meet the exceptionally high levels our clients and regulators expect. This is why our investment program, focused on the resilience of our infrastructure and the evolution of our products and services, remains a strategic priority.
Just as our organizational strategy remains consistent, so do the key concerns regarding settlement risk and the impact this has on the broader FX ecosystem, in particular for currencies ineligible for CLSSettlement. We fully support the public sector and industry efforts to promote the use of payment-versus-payment (PvP) settlement mechanisms, and CLS is actively engaged with clients and the broader market in a search for credible solutions to address settlement risk for these currencies. This sentiment is shared by many market participants and is reflected by the increased adoption of CLSNet. By standardizing and automating the netting calculation process, CLSNet facilitates the reduction of payment obligations exposed to settlement risk, while enhancing operational and liquidity efficiencies. This service helps to mitigate operational risk for emerging market currency trades.
The trajectory of CLSNet has been strong, growing year-on-year as an ever-increasing number of participants across the globe join the service.This, combined with the ongoing strong performance of CLSSettlement, demonstrates that market participants are seeking the high quality and reliable services provided by established financial market infrastructures, such as CLS, which they can rely on to mitigate risk and protect their operations.
We, along with our regulators and settlement members, place high importance on the resilience, soundness and stability of our services. Our ongoing investment program remains critical, not just for CLS, but for the safety of the entire FX ecosystem. Any failure to deliver could significantly affect the FX market and as a result, we dedicate much of our resources to these activities.
“The trajectory of CLSNet has been strong, growing year-on-year as an ever-increasing number of participants across the globe join the service. This, combined with the ongoing strong performance of CLSSettlement, demonstrates that market participants are seeking the high quality and reliable services provided by established financial market infrastructures, such as CLS.”
Chair of the Board and Independent/Outside Director
As a globally-regulated, mutually-owned financial market infrastructure, we put our clients at the center of our strategy. We remain focused on providing services that help them mitigate risk and enhance efficiency. By doing this effectively, we are confident in our ability to maintain our robust operational and financial performance in the coming years, despite potential challenges to profitability as we continue to invest in the organization.
The demand for our services is testament to the intrinsic value we bring to the FX market, and I look forward to working with my Board colleagues, the Executive Management Committee and the whole CLS team on the ongoing delivery of our strategy, and supporting our clients with secure, stable and resilient services.
I would like to thank our departing Board Directors David Gary (Deutsche Bank), Dominique Le Masson (BNP Paribas), Michael Lawrence (Citigroup), Hari Moorthy (Goldman Sachs), Bryan Osmar (Independent), William Stenning (Société Générale), Fabrizio Tallei (Intesa), and Ronnie Yam (United Overseas Bank Ltd) for the support they have provided to me, the Board, the Executive Management Committee and the broader team. Their collective insight, deep understanding of the ecosystem in which we operate and extensive leadership experience in financial markets have been invaluable to CLS. Please join me in wishing them every success in their future endeavors.
On a personal note I was deeply saddened by the news that former Board Director Gilbert Lichter passed away last year. Gilbert played a crucial role in CLS’s progress over many years, sharing his extensive expertise in operating a financial market infrastructure. As both a colleague and a friend, I, along with my fellow Board members and the management team, truly appreciated his guidance and advice. He will be dearly missed.
Gottfried Liebbrandt
Chair of the Board
