22 Jan 2012

CLS - $4.8 trillion a day in 2011!

When I saw the numbers for CLS in the ECB figures yesterday, my jaw dropped. The table listed "CLS" as 774 trillion euros in 2010, plus some additional numbers for Euros, Sterling and Danish and Swedish currency.

I had a look at CLS's website where I found a press release published on the 6th January 2012 which talks about the scale of foreign exchange transactions handled by CLS in 2011. I quote
"In December, CLS settled an average daily value of US$4.56 trillion, down slightly on November (US$4.63 trillion) due to the holiday season. Average daily volumes during December were also down at 737,443 (November 2011: 840,405), this is, however, an increase of 18.8% over the same period in 2010.
For 2011, average daily volumes settled were up 3% on 2010 (2011: 820,495 vs 2010: 792,900) and average daily values were up 17% (2011: US$4.8 trillion vs 2010: US$4.1 trillion)."
Let's assume 250 trading days a year. That's 1200 trillion dollars for 2011. Very conveniently, CLS published a report in February 2011 called "CLS market share" in which they estimate that they handle 68% of foreign exchange transactions - based largely on comparing their numbers with the results of the BIS Triennial Report. That means that we can assume that the global total was around 1800 trillion dollars for 2011.

CLS also proudly boasted that on Wednesday 21st September 2011 they broke all previous records
"Alan Bozian, CEO of CLS Group and President and CEO of CLS Bank International, said "The total value settled was US$8,992 billion and CLS Bank was able to settle this with a total pay-in requirement of US$54 billion""
Congratulations.

I defy anyone to explain why it would not be perfectly reasonable to put a 0.1% Financial Transaction Tax on this activity. This sort of pointless trading, presumably involving a large percentage High-Frequency Algorithmic trading, could be massively reduced without having any impact on the functionning of the real economy. And if the traders continued, then that would generate 1.8 trillion dollars of much needed revenue for governments.

I invite all the directors of CLS to explain to the 99% why we pay 20% Value Added Tax on most transactions we make, whereas CLS customers pay only a small fee to CLS. I actually  know the truthfull answer: "There is no VAT to pay on foreign exchange transactions, because it doesn't add any Value".

Here are the names of the Senior Management and the Directors. Perhaps they will find my blog when they Google their names. I look forward to hearing their comments.

Senior Management Team

Alan BozianChief Executive Officer, CLS Group Holdings; President and CEO, CLS Bank International
Peter SlaterDeputy Chief Executive Officer, CLS Group Holdings; Chief Executive Officer, CLS Services Ltd.
Sankar AiyarChief Technology Officer
James HoldcroftChief Legal Officer
Naresh NagiaChief Risk Officer
Richard KerschnerHead of Strategic Initiatives
Kathryn HerringtonHead of Human Resources
Chris PowerChief Financial Officer
Rachael HoeyDirector of Business Development
Sean DalyProgramme and Service Delivery Director

CLS Bank International
Gerard HartsinkChairman
Gordon SangsterDeputy Chairman
Alan BozianPresident & Chief Executive Officer
Phil ArmstrongDirector
Frederic BoillereauDirector
Mirco BrisighelliDirector
Andrew CoxDirector
John GieveOutside Director
Lars HakansonDirector
Kenneth HarveyOutside Director
Roger HawesDirector
Yumesaku IshigakiDirector
Tomoyuki IsshikiDirector
Niels Nordby KjaerDirector
Romeo LacherDirector
Khiang Tong Lim Director
Hays LittlejohnDirector
Christine MeadOutside Director
Bryan OsmarOutside Director
Paul RiordanDirector
Bharat SarpeshkarDirector
Rick Sears Director
Jason VitaleDirector
CLS Group Holdings AG
Gerard HartsinkChairman
Bharat SarpeshkarDeputy Chairman
Alan BozianChief Executive Officer
Phil ArmstrongDirector
Frederic BoillereauDirector
Mirco BrisighelliDirector
Andrew CoxDirector
John GieveOutside Director
Lars HakansonDirector
Kenneth HarveyOutside Director
Roger HawesDirector
Yumesaku IshigakiDirector
Tomoyuki IsshikiDirector
Niels Nordby KjaerDirector
Romeo LacherDirector
Khiang Tong Lim Director
Hays LittlejohnDirector
Christine MeadOutside Director
Bryan OsmarOutside Director
Paul RiordanDirector
Gordon SangsterDirector
Rick Sears Director
Jason VitaleDirector
CLS Aggregation Services LLC
Alan BozianChairman
Rachael HoeyDirector
Zar AmroliaDirector
Andrew CoyneDirector
Thomas GillieDirector
Roger HawesDirector
Gil MandelzisDirector
Todd MillerDirector
Troy RohrbaughDirector
Steven ChoDirector
Todd SandozDirector
Rick Sears Director

2 comments:

  1. Steve Keen did an excellent breakdown and analysis of debt in the UK http://goo.gl/3IDp0
    You might find the information useful for supportive arguments re FTT.
    Keen's debt manifesto is also worth a read http://goo.gl/isngN

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Martin. Yes, I have heard some of Steve Keen's stuff, but I will definitely need to find out more. And thanks for the links. Useful for anyone who ends up here... including, maybe, the board from CLE ;-)

    ReplyDelete