
The Accelerated Settlement Taskforce and its Technical Group have been developing a plan to move to faster settlement of securities trades on financial markets.
In December 2022, Charlie Geffen was appointed to chair the Accelerated Settlement Taskforce to explore the potential for faster settlement of securities trades in the UK.
The taskforce’s report was published on 28 March 2024, which recommended that the UK should move to a T+1 settlement cycle no later than the end of 2027.Following this, the government appointed Andrew Douglas to chair a Technical Group to take forward the next phase of the work.
The group was asked in its terms of reference to develop a detailed implementation plan for the UK transition to T+1 and to recommend a date before the end of 2027 for this to take place.
The Technical Group’s report recommends 12 ‘critical’ and 27 ‘highly recommended’ actions to facilitate a successful transition to T+1. It also recommends that the UK move to T+1 on 11 October 2027. The government welcomes this report and will set out its response shortly.
DTCC Comments On UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce Blueprint For T+1 Transition
“DTCC supports the recommendations set forth in the UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce (UK AST) UK T+1 Code of Conduct, and the recently issued Financial Markets Standards Board (FMSB) Standard for Sharing of Standard Settlement Instructions (SSI). We believe these initiatives are key to driving efficiency, reducing risk, and enhancing transparency in post-trade processes across jurisdictions. In particular, we commend the UK AST’s call for the completion of allocation and confirmation processes no later than 23:59 UK time on trade date (T+0), which is a key enabler for T+1 settlement on all trades. The UK AST also recommends that market participants begin preparing for an accelerated settlement cycle by implementing automated trade solutions to achieve T+1 settlement as soon as possible.
As observed in the US’ move to T+1 settlement, the automation of post-trade processes, including ensuring the accuracy and immediate availability of SSIs, is critical to achieving T+1 settlement. By aligning with these key recommendations, market participants can better navigate the complexities of accelerated timelines and a rapidly evolving financial market ecosystem, driving greater efficiency and ensuring the continued integrity of financial markets. DTCC remains committed to sharing our expertise and advancing industry-wide solutions that help firms achieve greater levels of automation in the post-trade process to meet accelerated settlement timelines, including our CTM and ALERT best practice solutions. At the same time, our expert consultants stand ready to support firms as they consider the impact of T+1 on their operations and develop plans to achieve readiness.”