[ I N D E P T H | T + 1 ]
working data […] all in all I think we ' ve done a pretty good job of keeping the market available for Asia Pacific investors.”
Indeed, this approach will allow for many Asian jurisdictions to begin work and have a full business day to manage processes in time for Europe’ s T + 1 settlement – giving investors the opportunity to get everything in place across the different time zones.
“ To be honest, I didn ' t want to go down in city history as the man who shut the UK off to Asia Pacific investors. That was not how I saw my legacy [ playing out ],” Douglas adds.
Settle up! When it comes to the new settlement status quo, time is literally of the essence, but what does this mean empirically? It’ s all well and good aiming for a collective process, but the pain points endure.
As Pam Samrai, head of buy-side post-trade product at Bloomberg, explains:“ Where I foresee challenges is European counterparties will want to automate and ensure straight through processing to ensure that they settle and match to the T + 1 window ideally same day. APAC
will likely adopt a similar approach.”
In the same vein, speaking to the current state of play when it comes to European versus APAC settlement dynamics, Joel asserts that while European settlement processes are relatively straightforward, the situation in Asia is“ markedly” different.
“ APAC markets face a range of failures and penalties related to settlement delays. As a result, our APAC client base is highly focused on settlement efficiency due to the current regulatory environment, and they are well-prepared to manage these challenges.”
“[…] In Asia, there is a strong commitment to meeting settlement deadlines, which is largely driven by the time zone differences. After the Europe market close, local APAC middle-office teams ensure matching instantly after an order is completed to avoid any settlement delays into the second day. They maintain a relentless focus on matching or settling trades, underscoring their proactive approach.”
Jon Ford, head of fixed income business development at Pirum, explains how this plays out in practice has already become increasingly preemptive.
“ So much of Asian trading interacts with London
52 // TheTRADE // Q1 2025