The UK’s Accelerated Settlement Taskforce (AST) is recommending that the UK moves to the T+1 settlement cycle for securities on 11 October 2027 in line with its European counterparts.
Andrew Douglas
Despite the UK being the first to tout the date for transition, the EU and Switzerland both confirmed the date in recent months, with the UK – as expected – now mirroring the day which the shortened settlement cycle will come into force.
The taskforce is now set to reveal final recommendations and implementation plan will be published at the start of February which will contain a roadmap for participants to follow for a smooth transition.
The chief recommendations will be around automation and compliance, along with a series of critical and highly recommended actions.
In a bid to stop last minute scrambling among firms, the taskforce is likely to outline a three-year roadmap which will see planning and budgeting in year one, building and implementation in 2026 and testing and go-live the year of the move.
The taskforce – which was set to disband upon the publication of the recommendations – has now been funded to continue its work all the way through to October 2027.
Speaking to Global Custodian last year, Andrew Douglas, chairman of the UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce, highlighted how around 5% of trades are already settling on a T+1 basis on Euroclear’s CREST.
In a follow up conversation last week Douglas explained that the taskforce will recommend the recording of information in the build-up to October 2027 so that progress can be measured:
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it,” he said. “And that goes for the regulators, but it also goes for the participants. So I think it would be helpful for them to know as well.”
Whether that information would be made public has not been confirmed.