CLS Bank Goes Live with Four New Currencies; A Year on From Launch CLS Bank Now Eliminates Settlement Risk in Eleven Currencies.

Business Editors

LONDON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 2003

CLS Bank International (CLS Bank) announces that it will settle payment instructions in four new currencies for the first time this week bringing to eleven the number of currencies eligible to settle through CLS Bank. Following regulatory approval, the Danish Krone, Norwegian Krone, Singapore Dollar and Swedish Krona have been designated as CLS Bank eligible currencies by the CLS Bank Board of Directors.

The new currencies join the existing seven currencies, the Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, Pound Sterling, Swiss Franc and United States Dollar as CLS Bank eligible currencies. The Hong Kong Dollar, New Zealand Dollar and the Korean Won, which have been previously endorsed in principle by the CLS Bank Board, are expected to follow in 2004, subject to regulatory approval, the satisfaction of the criteria set forth in the CLS Bank Rules and the completion of the technical implementation.

CLS Bank eliminates FX settlement risk through the world's first simultaneous global multi-currency settlement system. Since its launch a year ago this week, CLS Bank has settled a total of over 14 million payment instructions with a gross value of over US$160 trillion.

A total of 54 institutions are now settling payment instructions associated with foreign exchange trades through CLS Bank as Settlement Members, with approximately 70 additional institutions also settling transactions in CLS Bank as Settlement Member customers ("third parties"). CLS Bank is now settling on average over 80,000 instructions each day, with a gross value in the region of US $ 1 trillion.

Announcing the new currencies, Joseph De Feo, Chief Executive Officer of CLS Group and President and CEO of CLS Bank, said: "CLS Bank has achieved a great deal in the first year of live service. Volumes have grown ahead of expectations and the number of participants continues to rise, as CLS Bank has demonstrated its value to the market. The addition of four new currencies represents the first major enhancement to the service and enables us to build on CLS Bank's growing value proposition."

Fritz T. Klein, Chairman of the CLS Group and CLS Bank, added: "The addition of these new currencies has been the result of a high degree of co-operation between CLS Bank and its many stakeholders. This has resulted in an important enhancement to the service that CLS provides to the market. With further enhancements and products planned in the coming years, CLS's value to the market will continue to rise, and our primary focus is to work with all our stakeholders to deliver these benefits to an ever wider set of participants."

Notes to editors:

CLS Group and CLS Bank:

Continuous Linked Settlement (CLS(TM)) is a unique process that enables cross border currency transactions to be settled intraday on a payment versus payment basis. It is a real time, global settlement system that eliminates the settlement risk caused by delays arising from settlement across time zones. CLS represents the most dramatic change in FX settlement in over 300 years - previously banks had to rely on a global network of correspondents and a degree of faith that they had received their payments in one currency as they paid away another - CLS turns this faith into certainty.

The CLS service is offered by CLS Bank International ("CLS Bank"), and is supported by over 65 of the world's largest global financial institutions. Together they account for a substantial majority of the cross-currency transactions across the globe.

CLS Bank links to the Real Time Gross Settlement systems operated by Central Banks in eleven currencies (US Dollar, Euro, UK Sterling, Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, Australian Dollar, Swedish Krona, Danish Krone, Norwegian Krone and the Singapore Dollar). Additional currencies will be added over time with the Hong Kong Dollar, the New Zealand Dollar and the Korean Won due to become CLS Bank eligible currencies once all the requirements in CLS Bank's Rules have been satisfied and regulatory approval has been obtained. CLS Bank is based in New York and is an Edge Corporation bank supervisored by the Federal Reserve.

CLS is a trademark of CLS UK Intermediate Holdings Ltd.

For a list of Settlement Members and media contacts visit the CLS Website at www.cls-group.com

About the Central Banks:

Danmarks Nationalbank is the central bank of Denmark. Further details are available at www.nationalbanken.dk.

Norges Bank is the central bank of Norway. Further details are available at www.norges-bank.no.

Sveriges Riksbank is the central bank of Sweden. Further details are available at www.riksbank.se.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is the central bank of Singapore. Further details are available at www.mas.gov.sg.

Central Bank quotes:

Danmarks Nationalbank:

"With the introduction of the Danish krone in CLS, settlement risk in foreign-exchange transactions in Danish kroner can be reduced significantly. FX settlement risk is one of the most substantial remaining risks in the payment systems and consequently we hope the CLS system will be widely used," says Mr. Torben Nielsen, Member of the Board of Governors.

Norges Bank:

Central Bank Governor Svein Gjedrem: "Foreign exchange settlement risk is one of the most substantial remaining risks in payment systems. Norges Bank supports and appreciates the creation of CLS as a market initiative to reduce this risk. Norwegian banks will benefit from a significant risk reduction following the inclusion of the Norwegian krone in the CLS system."

Sveriges Riksbank:

Lars Nyberg, Deputy Governor of Sveriges Riksbank said: "The Riksbank supports and appreciates the creation of the CLS system as a market initiative to substantially reduce FX settlement risk. The development and implementation of the CLS system has accordingly been constructively followed by the Riksbank. The inclusion of the Swedish krona in CLS settlement will reduce FX settlement risk for Swedish banks. The inclusion of the Swedish krona in CLS will therefore have a positive effect on the stability of the Swedish financial system."

Monetary Authority of Singapore:

"Through the settling of foreign exchange transactions via a payment-vs-payment mechanism, CLS has significantly reduced the FX settlement risks of the participating currencies around the world. The inclusion of the Singapore Dollar to the existing seven currencies in CLS is an important milestone for Singapore, and banks will benefit from a safer and more efficient FX settlement environment," says Mrs Foo-Yap Siew Hong, Assistant Managing Director (Banking/Corporate Resource) of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.