You get what you pay for How much CLS charges for its services baffles many in the FX market. It is fair to say that in this age of transparency the organization is often incredibly opaque. That finally appears to be changing, at least to some degree. CLS’s previous reticence only served to convince me that those in the market who described it as a bad tax had a point and I had got the impression that CLS’s charges were somewhat discretionary. Now, however, having looked at the figures, I’m less convinced about both points. It did take a bit of a sledgehammer approach – which I’m not averse to using – to get CLS to open up. Previously, I drew a blank from numerous sources on what it was charging. Everyone I asked immediately clammed up, as if they were witnesses to a crime who had been nobbled before the trial of the accused. According to Jonathan Butterfield, EVP, marketing and communication, at CLS Bank, CLS’s pricing structure is not something it arbitrarily sets. |