CLS是什么？

CLS is the name of an institution owned and operated by banks engaged in large multi‑currency inter‑bank settlements of money owed to other CLS participants, particularly for intra‑day (same‑day) foreign exchange transactions.

The benefits to bank participants are:
1. elimination of settlement risk – the risk that one bank owing money to another does not pay;
2. cost‑efficiency;
3. ease of management for the department of the bank that reconciles payments made and due.
At the height of the global financial crisis, some financial markets (such as the short‑term inter‑bank deposit and borrowing markets) ‘froze’. However, the foreign exchange markets continued to function. Many commentators believe that it was the guarantee afforded by the CLS process that ensured confidence, and hence liquidity continued to be available.

The use of CLS has reduced the number of bank nostro/vostro account relationships.

EXAMPLE
CLS impact on nostro/vostro accounts

UK Bank plc may regularly send customer‑initiated transfers of funds to several beneficiaries who bank at several different US banks. Prior to CLS, UK Bank plc would have needed nostro/vostro relationships with each US bank, the alternative being to face delays in the internal transfer of the funds within the USA. Now, UK Bank plc needs only one nostro account. UK Bank plc will use this nostro account to meet its obligations to CLS as regards the transfers of funds to US beneficiaries. It is CLS that will transfer the funds to the US banks, provided that UK Bank plc has sufficient balances in US dollars with CLS to meet these obligations.

来自CITF2021， 3.8.9 Continuous linked settlement (CLS)