03.24.2017

OPINION: Blockchain Not the Swiss Army Knife of Settlement

03.24.2017

The US Securities and Exchange Commission adopted an amendment on Wednesday that requires broker-dealers to shortened settlement cycle by the beginning of September.

Only the firms that have been living in denial should worry about meeting the SEC’s September 5 deadline.

Wall Street has been working on the migration to settlement by two business days after trade date (T+2) from three days after trade date (T+3) since early 2015.

The Industry Steering Group and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. have been working with broker-dealers non-stop for the past two years to define and implement the migration process, establish the and set up the necessary testing regime.

Wednesday’s announcement was little more than completing a footnote for the project.

The milestone also brought out the backers of digital ledger technology out of the woodwork shouting that settlement would be improved if the industry would adopt a DLT-based infrastructure for settling trades.

For many manually intensive settlement processes, such as for various over-the-counter instruments, DLT-based processes work well and shrink the settlement window remarkably.

However, DLT architecture does not need to be the answer for every settlement problem.

Ever since the New York Stock Exchange had to keep trading to four days a week in the 70s so that members could process all of their trades, Wall Street and the DTCC have worked hard to improve the settlement of equities trades continuously.

If DLT had been more advanced when the industry began its discussion of moving to a T+2 cycle, it might have had a seat at the table.

But since the earliest DLT pilot projects will not happen until the second half of this year, the industry was not going to wait for a nascent technology to mature before moving to the shorter settlement cycle.

The DTCC is one of the biggest backers of DLT and looks to implement it in the next version of the cooperative’s Trade Information Warehouse. But not all processes need or would benefit greatly from implementing a distributed ledger, such as cash equities.

It is all a matter of using the proper tool for the proper job.

Markets Media Group was pleased to host the 2025 European Women in Finance Awards last night at Claridge’s in London.
#WomeninFinance #WIF #EuropeanFinance #FinanceCommunity

See the full list of winners here: https://www.marketsmedia.com/2025-european-women-in-finance-awards-the-winners/

3

We are excited to announce the finalists for the 2025 U.S. Women in Finance Awards! Congratulations to all!

Check out the full list here:


#WomeninFinance #WIF #financeindustry

Nominations are NOW OPEN for the 2026 Women in Finance LatAm Awards! Do you know a standout leader, innovator, or rising star? Nominate her today!

Learn more & submit your nomination:

#WomeninFinance #Finance #WIF

HSBC AI Markets harnesses natural language processing to meet market participants’ trading and hedging needs, from pre-trade analysis, to execution, to post-trade. Markets Media caught up with Tom Croft to learn more about the platform.

#AIMarkets

Load More

Related articles

  1. Distributed ledger technology increases efficiency, reduces breaks and eliminates reconciliations.

  2. This initiative makes S&P's stablecoin risk analysis accessible in DeFi protocols & smart contracts.

  3. The trading venue allows clients to settle through a traditional CSD or a crypto wallet.

  4. The group has a strategy of integrating trading, settlement & custody for digital assets.

  5. CBOE to Upgrade Trading Platform

    Institutions can access blockchains without needing to upgrade to new infrastructure.

We're Enhancing Your Experience with Smart Technology

We've updated our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy to introduce AI tools that will personalize your content, improve our market analysis, and deliver more relevant insights.These changes take effect on Aug 25, 2025.
Your data remains protected—we're simply using smart technology to serve you better. [Review Full Terms] | [Review Privacy Policy] Please review our updated Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy carefully. By continuing to use our services after Aug 25, 2025, you agree to these

Close the CTA