The Settlement of Foreign Exchange Trades and CLS

Abstract

As outlined in Chapter 4 (sec. 2.5) all trading operations include two steps: the actual trading over the telephone, or more commonly today computer screens, and the settlement which consists of delivering the currencies and/or securities traded and ensuring that ownership has effectively and irrevocably passed from seller to buyer on both legs. The general public is mostly aware of the trading operations through TV interviews of financial ‘experts’ captured in trading rooms, or films such as ‘Wall Street’. Much less glamorous and exciting, but nevertheless demanding exacting care to avoid fails, are the back office operations necessary to settle the trades struck by the ‘masters of the financial universe’.