CLS’ Blockchain-Based FX Post-Trade Solution Now Adopted by Asset Managers

CLS Group on Monday unveiled that its new post-trade monitoring and reporting tool, CLSTradeMonitor, which leverages its extensive experience of risk mitigation and operational services provided for FX dealers and institutions, has gone live.

The first adopters for the product built on the distributed ledger technology (DLT), aka blockchain, are the asset managers Mesirow Financial and Mountain Pacific Advisors, LLC.

The milestone comes as part of a broader strategy that aims to shake off CLS’ image as a traditional settlement services provider. To date, most of the updates to were enhancements of existing services intended to make the offering more efficient.

Instead, the company, which was formed in 2002 to reduce FX settlement risks, recently has been keen to promote itself as a provider of innovative products, including post-trade risk management, aggregation and netting solutions.

CLSTradeMonitor is a post-trade monitoring and reporting tool that provides a real-time consolidated view of the match and confirmation status for all trade instructions submitted to CLSSettlement and CLSNet – a bilateral payment netting solution intended to support trades not settling in CLSSettlement built on a DLT platform.

said the new additions will help participating institutions to drive process efficiencies such as optimizing intraday liquidity, enabling real-time awareness of currency and counterparty exposures, and reducing operational and credit risk.

The launch also follows CLS’ recent investment in a , which is based in New York and aims to provide blockchain solutions to the financial services industry.

Commenting on the news, Alan Marquard, Chief Strategy and Development Officer at CLS, said: “We are committed to using our trusted position at the center of the FX market, as well as our technology expertise, to create standardized solutions which solve common problems faced by FX market participants. CLSTradeMonitor will assist the broader market, including banks, corporates, and asset managers as they leverage CLSSettlement and CLSNet.”

Joseph Hoffman, CEO of Mesirow Financial Currency Management, said: “Mesirow Financial continuously looks for ways to enhance its operational efficiency and minimize risks for our clients, and CLSTradeMonitor meets both of these objectives. CLSTradeMonitor offers a comprehensive view of the status of our currency trades, helping us to more effectively manage settlement risk. Implementing CLSTradeMonitor further strengthens Mesirow Financial’s commitment to reduce risks and costs for our clients.”