CLS Bank Settles $1 Trillion in One Day; Settlement Member Group Continues to Grow.

Business Editors

LONDON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 2003

Today, CLS Bank International (CLS Bank) has settled over 117,000 payment instructions with a gross value of over $US 1 trillion in one day for the first time. The new record volume, due to the US public holiday on Monday 17th, is a prelude to the level of daily volume and value that CLS Bank expects to settle later this year. Even on a normal settlement day, CLS Bank is now settling on average 60,000 payment instructions derived from foreign exchange deals submitted each day by its Settlement Members, with a gross value of approximately $US 600 billion. Volumes continue to grow, exceeding expectation, with over $US 40 trillion settled successfully to date.

CLS eliminates settlement risk through the world's first simultaneous and irrevocable global multi-currency settlement system. Since its launch with 39 Settlement Members in September 2002, CLS Bank has approved another ten Settlement Members. This brings the total number to 49 banks that are now settling live instructions for foreign exchange trades through CLS Bank. Additional CLS Bank Settlement Members in 2003 and the introduction of Settlement Member customers in the bank-to-bank market will continue to expand CLS use in the foreign exchange markets.

Joseph De Feo, CEO of CLS Group and President and CEO of CLS Bank International said: "This is another milestone and comes after a significant year of achievement for CLS Bank. We have successfully launched the CLS service with a higher number of shareholders than originally envisaged and have already opened up the CLS service to our Settlement Members' customers ("third parties"). The volume of instructions settled through CLS Bank is exceeding expectations. It is possible we are already impacting the foreign exchange market observing the high volumes settling through CLS. During 2003 we are determined to build on our achievements to deliver a world class service that provides increasing value to our shareholders and the wider market."

Suzanne Labarge, Chairman of CLS Group, added: "The market is now seeing CLS Bank demonstrating its value. The volume we have seen today will be replicated on a daily basis later this year and CLS Bank has shown that it is more than capable of handling these volumes. Already a significant proportion of the total daily volume in the global FX market is settled through CLS Bank, and as this increases this will continue to reduce risk and bring value to the wider market, which in these uncertain times will benefit us all."

Notes to Editors:

CLS 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 will eliminate the settlement risk caused by delays arising from time-zone differences. CLS represents the most dramatic change in FX settlement for 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 seven currencies (US Dollar, Euro, UK Sterling, Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar. Additional currencies will be added over time with three Scandinavian currencies (Swedish Krona, Danish Kroner and Norwegian Krone) and the Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand Dollars due to become CLS Bank eligible currencies once all the requirements in CLS Bank's rules have been satisfied. CLS Bank is based in New York and is an Edge Corporation bank regulated by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

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