CLS, a market infrastructure delivering settlement, processing and data solutions, announced today that Metrobank is the first Philippine bank to access CLSSettlement as a third-party participant. UBS, a CLSSettlement member, will provide access to Metrobank.

The addition of Metrobank, one of the largest banks in the Philippines, is testament to the significant increase in third-party participation in CLSSettlement throughout the region. This momentum has been driven by a number of factors: since 2018, the overall number of Asia Pacific third parties (regional/third-party banks, funds, corporates and non-bank financial institutions) participating in the settlement service increased by 15% while respective average daily gross values settled increased by 17%. In that same time period, the average daily gross values settled by third-party banks in the region also increased by 16%.

Margaret Law, Head of Client Management, Asia Pacific, CLS, commented, "We are thrilled that Metrobank has chosen to use CLS’s settlement service. With the growth of FX trading in many Asian currencies, the issue of settlement risk has become an increasing concern and it is essential that all market participants, buy side or sell side, implement appropriate FX risk mitigation services such as CLSSettlement.”

Bob Murga, Metrobank Operations Group Head said, "Our participation in CLSSettlement will enable Metrobank to mitigate settlement risk and reduce operational costs related to FX trading. Ultimately, CLS creates opportunities for us to expand our business by having access to a wider pool of counterparties."

Christian Stolcke, Global Head of Banks at UBS, said, “We are delighted to provide Metrobank access to CLSSettlement. Wider participation in the service will help to build a more robust global FX market through the mitigation of FX settlement risk. Furthermore, in times of increasing intraday funding and liquidity cost, CLS brings considerable reduction of liquidity consumption through its netting effect.”

As foreign exchange volumes continue to increase,¹ the recent Bank for International Settlements’ quarterly review indicates that close to USD9 trillion of payments remain at risk from settlement risk on any given day.² Consequently it remains critical that all market participants strive to adopt global best practices that mitigate risks and establish stronger controls, as well as improve operational efficiencies. In addition, industry initiatives such as the introduction of the FX Global Code of Conduct have motivated FX market participants, including those in Asia, to adopt a best practice approach to settlement and post-trade processing.

Footnotes:

1 Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Over-the-counter (OTC) Derivatives Markets in 2019 (revised December 2019) https://www.bis.org/statistics/rpfx19.htm

2 BIS Quarterly Review International banking and financial market developments (December 2019). https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt1912.htm