Shekel Goes International

August 5, 2008

In a CLS statement, the bank announced, “Following regulatory approval, the Mexican peso and Israeli shekel have been designated as CLS Bank settlement eligible currencies. The extension of the CLS Bank service to these currencies enhances systemic stability in the settlement of foreign exchange transactions, and over half of all CLS Bank members will be able to settle in these two currencies immediately.”

The shekel and the peso join CLS’s other 15 eligible currencies: the US dollar, the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Singapore dollars, the Danish and Norwegian krones, the euro, the yen, the Korean won, the South African rand, the Swedish krona, the Swiss franc, and the UK pound sterling.

The Bank of Israel has been in contact with CLS on the matter since 2004 and had consistently pushed Israeli banks to meet the CLS criteria. The induction of the shekel into the CLS system is considered a very important step towards upgrading Israel’s financial infrastructure. Israel’s Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi are registered CLS members.

By Ynetnews.com

Photo Credit: www.israelimages.com/Israel Talby