The Continuous Linked Settlement (CLS) Bank, which performs the thankless job of settling the nearly $4 Trillion in currency trades completed each day, recently announced that it will now settle trades involving the Israeli Shekel. This is quite an honor for Israel, as only 16 other currencies can claim this distinction. Implicitly, the Israeli Shekel has been deemed both important and stable enough to be fully convertible. The announcement marks another positive development for the currency, which has appreciated by an astounding 30% against the Dollar over the last year, including 15% since the beginning of 2008. It is unclear when amateur traders will be able to trade the Shekel, but now that it is included in the CLS roster, it probably won’t be long. YNet reports:

The Bank of Israel has been in contact with CLS on the matter since 2004 and had consistently pushed Israeli banks
to meet the CLS criteria. The induction of the shekel into the CLS system is considered a very important step towards upgrading Israel’s financial infrastructure.

Read More: CLS declares Israeli shekel eligible for international transaction