UK & EU Accelerate Settlement Cycles to T+1 Following North America’s Lead

The UK, Switzerland, and EU have unveiled roadmaps to shorten securities settlement to T+1, mirroring the US and Canada's May 2024 transition. DTCC notes alignment in transatlantic approaches but highlights operational divergences in implementation strategies.

Firebrand Research's June report characterized North America's T+1 shift as 'relatively smooth,' though identifying persistent friction points in FX settlements and fund processing cycles. 'The industry requires deeper automation across post-trade workflows,' noted analyst Virginie O'Shea.

Gresham's Phil Flood observes European firms adopted selective automation during the North American transition, but many defaulted to manual workarounds. 'Batch file processing still dominates over API integrations,' Flood remarked, suggesting latent efficiency gains ahead of Europe's migration.