CLS Closes Out 2023 with Strong Volumes

As was the case with the FX platforms that previously reported volume data, CLS has closed out 2023 with historically-strong December settlement data, largely driven by spot activity.

Overall the service settled $1.967 trillion per day in December, down 4.1% on November, but 15.4% higher on a year-on-year basis. As was the case in data reported by LSEG FX, spot volumes held up nicely, while non-spot products saw a decline. CLS settled $498 billion per day in spot FX in December, just down from the $503 billion seen in November, but up 21.7% year-on-year. December was also the third busiest month of 2023 for the service.

Elsewhere, activity drifted, but was still nicely up year-on-year. FX swaps daily volume was $1.289 trillion, down 4.3% from November but 8.5% higher than the same month in 2022. Outright forwards volumes – probably the star of 2023 for CLS, also drifted from November, by 10.4% to $180 billion, but remain significantly higher than December 2022, by 68.2%.