The strong growth in turnover on the foreign exchange market, combined with the risky settlement via correspondent banks, gave rise to systemic stability concerns. The launch of the CLS foreign exchange settlement system has contributed to mitigating these risks. CLS has been able to eliminate the principal risk inherent in the settlement of foreign exchange transactions via correspondent banks by means of the PvP mechanism. Since CLS commenced operations in 2002, the scope of its business and the number of participants has increased steadily. Currently, 17 currencies are settled.