The EU T+1 Industry Committee was established to drive the transition to a T+1 settlement
cycle across the securities markets of the EU and EEA, with implementation set for 11th
October 2027 as agreed by EU co-legislators. The Committee includes stakeholders from
European Associations, market infrastructure providers, market users, and experts from
various financial sectors. UK and Swiss representatives, along with key EU public
authorities—including the European Commission, the European Securities and Markets
Authority, and the European Central Bank—serve as observers, fostering crossjurisdictional collaboration.
The Committee’s work is organised into technical workstreams addressing
challenges across the securities market ecosystem. A transversal ‘coordination group’
facilitates the development of a standardised operational timetable. This collaborative
approach, complemented by continuous dialogue with the UK Accelerated Settlement
Taskforce and the Swiss Securities Post-Trade Council, supports the exchange of expertise
and mutual advancement.
Overview of T+1
As global financial markets become increasingly interconnected and digitalised, the shift
towards T+1 settlement aligns European markets with other major economies. While
reducing the securities settlement cycle raises numerous technical and operational
challenges, it also presents strategic opportunities. With rising geopolitical tensions and
global uncertainty, the EU has the potential to attract investors by offering legal and
regulatory certainty, clarity, and stability. However, this requires efficient, competitive, and
modern market infrastructures to appeal to them.
Transitioning to T+1 settlement is not merely a technical adjustment; it reflects a broader
commitment towards innovation and should be seen as a key component of the EU’s
broader strategic ambition to establish a Savings and Investments Union.
The shift challenges traditional operations, such as matching, clearing and settlement
processes, as well as other relevant activities such as FX transactions, Repo and Securities
Lending, and Corporate Actions. Market participants should identify and carefully assess
relevant areas and upgrade systems and market practices to ensure that the current level
of settlement efficiencies is preserved and improved.
Other markets such as the US have shown that T+1 is achievable. In the US, the UK and
other markets the complexities of the project required appropriate governance
arrangements, ensuring, among other things, the proper balance of the different interests
involved and coordination between all the interested parties and public authorities.
However, market participants should acknowledge that the structure of European markets is vastly more complex to the US or UK. We are not just shortening the settlement cycle for a single jurisdiction or single market. We are coordinating the move to T+1 for 30 jurisdictions, multiple CSDs and other market infrastructures.
These complexities exist in the legal, fiscal and regulatory frameworks, and the significantly
larger number of regulatory and supervisory bodies, and market infrastructures.
Therefore, strong leadership, appropriate governance arrangements and a continuous
dialogue with Public Authorities are key to ensure a successful process.
Challenges and next steps
The Industry Committee has worked according to a robust governance structure to centrally
coordinate the project in a way which ensures that all stakeholders’ views are appropriately
represented. However, the Industry Committee launched a feedback phase to it’s high-level roadmap, comprised of recommendations to support the transition, to gather additional input from stakeholders, which may support the Committee’s future work. It will not be a formal public consultation, as the document will not be revised based on this feedback, but relevant and agreed-upon input may be used in follow-up activities. This limited consultation period timeline and submission process began on 3 July 2025 with the deadline to accept feedback 31 August.
The transition will require adherence to recommendations, detailed market practices where needed, and proactive monitoring. While the recommendations are not legally binding, we believe it is important for public authorities to consider them in the context of their supervisory activities. This consideration is particularly pertinent given the potentially adverse effects of non-adherence by any stakeholders within the financial services ecosystem.
The goal is to achieve operational resilience and settlement efficiency through an inclusive and modern approach, ensuring the EU’s competitiveness in global financial markets.
