Bank Hapoalim (LSE: BKHD; TASE: POLI) and Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) have become shareholders and member banks of CLS Group, a provider of real-time currency clearing services. Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer asked the banks to join CLS as part of his plan for the shekel to become one of the currencies CLS clears.
Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi each bought $5 million worth of CLS shares. Bank Leumi said that it would budget $2 million for the project, including the operating system. The two banks are the only Israeli banks that meet CLS criteria for becoming members. They will provide nostro and in shekels to clearing members, and liquidity services to CLS Group.
CLS currently clears 15 currencies, and has 70 members, including Merrill Lynch, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse Group, ABN AMRO, ING, HSBC, UBS, and Sumitomo. 334 banks worldwide use CLS, which clears $6 trillion in 700,000 transactions a day.
The shekel and Mexican peso will join the clearing service during the first quarter of 2008. A condition for joining is the operation of the Real Time Gross Settlement system (RTGS) in Israel, and its smooth running for six months. The Bank of Israel postponed the launch of the system from March to July.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on April 26, 2007
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