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THE LONG ROAD AHEAD TO T + 1
When back in February , US regulators set the date for the implementation of T + 1 , they handed a wake-up call to the industry which found itself with an extraordinary amount of work to do around automation , securities lending , FX , corporate actions and more in order to meet an ambitious go-live date . Jonathan Watkins gauged industry reaction .
Save the date . Prepare for the date . Maybe even fear the date . US regulators announced in February that T + 1 settlement will be implemented on 28 May 2024 , setting off a countdown timer which has left the industry sweating . It wasn ’ t quite as ambitious as March 2024 – the date initially touted by regulators – and it wasn ’ t as generous as September 2024 – as was desired by the industry . Instead , it was a rather unexpected not-quite-halfway point between the two . The announcement caused quite a stir within the securities industry , but with the calendar marked , the industry began to get to grips with the real issues at hand , of which there are many .
T + 1 : The journey begins What seems like an innocuous combination of a letter , a symbol and a number , appears instead to be carrying the underlying complexity of a blackboard at a physics lecture . That ’ s certainly how my desk looks with research notes as I embark on this feature to assess the journey ahead for market participants around the world who face up to the realities and impacts of a shortened settlement cycle in the US . The intention here is to compile whitepapers , roundtables , webinars , surveys , industry sentiment and feedback on a com-
10 Securities Review Q3 2023