Kyndryl completes CLS data centre migration for FX trade

Kyndryl has completed a data centre migration for CLS as part of the company's multi-year technology modernisation programme.

CLS said its first settlement cycle in the new environment processed nearly 2 million transactions worth more than USD $9 trillion, providing an early test of the infrastructure that underpins its foreign exchange settlement operations.

The project moves a core part of CLS's operations to a new data centre environment designed to support its settlement and processing services. CLS operates a payment-versus-payment settlement system used by financial institutions to reduce the risk that one side of a currency trade pays out without receiving the currency due from the counterparty.

That role gives the migration broader relevance across the foreign exchange market. More than 75 major financial institutions are settlement members of CLS, while more than 38,000 other organisations use its services.

Critical infrastructure

CLS and Kyndryl said the migration required detailed planning and validation at each stage because the systems involved form part of systemically important financial market infrastructure. The updated environment is intended to improve security, resilience and operational flexibility while supporting changing market and business requirements.

The work is part of a broader modernisation effort at CLS as financial market operators review ageing infrastructure, cyber risk, and the demands of always-on trading and payments systems. For market infrastructure providers, technology changes often require extensive testing before they can be introduced into live operations.

Tom Barkhuff, Chief Information Officer at CLS, said the project was closely tied to the group's core operating priorities. "As a critical financial market infrastructure, resilience is fundamental to everything we do," he said.

"Completing this milestone further strengthens the foundation of our services and positions us to continue delivering the operational resilience, security and reliability our settlement members expect. This achievement also reflects the strength of our collaboration with Kyndryl throughout the program."

Operational focus

Kyndryl worked alongside CLS on the migration, describing the project as part of its role in managing and modernising large-scale technology estates for financial services clients. Maintaining service quality and reliability during the move was a central consideration.

Walter Huber, Managing Partner at Kyndryl, said: "It is an honour that CLS has this level of trust in our technical expertise, operational discipline and delivery capabilities."

He added: "The completion of this major milestone in CLS's modernisation journey is truly a one-team celebration. Maintaining service quality, cyber resilience and operational reliability remains a top priority in today's cyberthreat environment."

CLS is one of the core providers of settlement infrastructure in the global foreign exchange market, where large transaction volumes and time-sensitive processing make resilience and recovery arrangements particularly important. The successful first cycle in the new environment offers a practical indication that the migrated systems can support that workload at scale.

In that first cycle, CLS settled nearly 2 million transactions totalling more than USD $9 trillion.