On 27 September 2024, the Accelerated Settlement Taskforce’s (AST) Technical Group published a draft recommendations report and consultation.
Background
The AST was established as part of the Edinburgh Reforms to examine the case for the securities settlement cycle to be shortened from its current standard of Trade Date plus 2 days, or ‘T+2’, to Trade Date plus 1 day or ‘T+1’. The AST’s initial report, published in March 2024, recommended that the UK should commit to moving to a T+1 standard settlement cycle at the latest by the end of 2027.
It was recognised that a number of technical and operational changes would be necessary for the UK to be ready to move to T+1 and so the report also recommended that a new group – the Technical Group – should be set up to determine the details of these necessary technical changes. The report recommended that:
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This group should select a specific date before the end of 2027 for the UK to transition to T+1.
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