For each participant CLS keeps an account which consists of several sub-accounts, one for each currency included in CLS. A foreign exchange transaction is settled between the two parties by debiting the subaccount for the currency that has been sold and at the same time crediting the sub-account for the currency that has been bought. As a result of these simultaneous account movements, the settlement risk is eliminated. Foreign exchange transactions that are to be settled via CLS must generally be sent to CLS by midnight before the value date in question. CLS then matches and stores them in a database. From 07:00 Central European Time (CET)11 the instructions are settled sequentially by irrevocably debiting the sub-account for the currency that has been sold and at the same time irrevocably crediting the sub-account for the currency that has been bought (gross settlement). As a result, during the course of the settlement process the settlement members accumulate a net short position in the currencies in which they (and their customers) are overall net sellers and a net long position in the currencies in which they are overall net buyers. Foreign exchange transactions are settled on the CLS accounts on a gross basis.