An interview with Andrew Douglas, chair of the UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce Technical Group
In November of 2024, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) recommended that the European Union (EU) adopt a deadline of 11 October 2027 for a change to a T+1 trade settlement lifecycle for securities, the same deadline proposed by the UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce in its February 2025 report: https://acceleratedsettlement.co.uk/publishes-final-implementation-plan/
corfinancial® recently sat down with Andrew Douglas, chair of the UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce Technical Group (AST), charged with overseeing the delivery of a T+1 settlement cycle in the UK. In this interview we discuss the future transition of T+1 in the UK and the practical steps asset management firms can take to smooth the process.
Andrew Douglas: “Winston Churchill famously, if the contents of a report had to be actioned immediately, would add a note to the report that read: ‘Action This Day’. What people may not know is that that today five percent of UK cash equity trades are already settling on T+1. It is clearly possible to operate a T+1 system within a T+2 environment and I encourage all participants to ‘action this day’ and make the change to T+1 sooner rather than later.
Reflecting on what happened in the US, with only three months to go 30% of firms had done little to prepare according to research prepared by the Value Exchange, who undertook periodic readiness or ‘pulse survey’ studies across a wide cross section of participants. We are planning to ask Value Exchange to do the same in the UK, starting in 2025 with a pulse survey every 6 months so we can track our own readiness.
‘Don’t wait until 11 October 2027’ is the key message. I advise firms to stay informed and use information published on our new website at www.acceleratedsettlement.co.uk, and extract from it what you need to do to be compliant. Create a development plan and use the 2025 budget cycle to secure funding for your preparatory projects in 2026 – carrying out the necessary updates to your own back- and middle- office processing. This will ensure that at the start of 2027, your firm will be ready for testing.”
