CLS Hits New Record in March

CLS is the latest source to report record FX data for March – something which is unlikely to last very long with April shaping up to be even higher, with growth in all products providing impetus.

While spot average daily value (ADV) settled rose 27.1% year-on-year and by 11.3% from February, it is still shy, at $619 billion, of CLS’ peak in March 2020 and the onset of the pandemic, when it handled $707 billion – it is also the first time since that month, that CLS has exceeded $600 billion in spot.

There were new records, however, in both outright forwards and FX swaps. The former saw $226 billion per day settled by CLS, up 31.4% year-on-year and up 10.8% from February, while FX swaps ADV was $1.693 trillion, up 16.6% year-on-year and up 9.8% month-on-month. The outright number beats a previous peak of $215 billion in July 2023, the FX swaps a high of $1.66 trillion in September 2024.

Overall, this means the service settled $2.538 trillion, the first time it has handled over $2.5 trillion, this is up 10.3% from February and up 20.2% year-on-year.