Plotting the death of settlement risk

As if European monetary union (Emu) and the year 2000 (Y2K) problem weren't enough, banks face another giant technology challenge over the next two years - constructing a mechanism to eliminate foreign exchange settlement risk.

The centre of it is a Continuous Linked Settlement Bank (CLS Bank), which will act as a turntable for the bulk of the world's foreign exchange transactions. Last month, IBM won the contract to build the system, which will have to reconcile accounts in multiple currencies and link up with real-time payment systems in scores of countries. But the project won't be functional until September 2000 at the earliest.

To use the CLS system, banks will have to adapt the way they process and monitor foreign exchange transactions, and revolutionize their approach to correspondent banking. Countries' real-time gross settlement systems must be brought...