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On December 2024, the United Kingdom (UK), the European Union (EU) and Switzerland formally endorsed moving their respective securities settlement cycles from T+2 (currently) to T+1 with a coordinated go live on 11 October 2027.
Since January 2025, industry bodies and regulatory authorities are shifting from feasibility into detailed planning and execution. Regional governance structures are established and moving forward with regulatory amendments (such as the review of the Central Securities Depositories Regulation, or CSDR in the EU) as well as publishing timelines and action plans to meet the 2027 migration date.
- In the UK, this is progressing under the “Accelerated Settlement Taskforce” with a high level plan published in January 2025.
- In the EU, execution and coordination is led by the “EU T+1 Industry Committee” with a roadmap and operational timetable issued in June 2025.
- Switzerland is aligning its approach via the Swiss SPTC to ensure cross border consistency.
Leveraging capabilities from the 2024 migration
While the European migration presents a unique challenge due to the large number of markets, currencies, regulatory/legal frameworks, and Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs) involved, many of the underlying capabilities and rationales for transitioning securities settlement to T+1 bear similarities to the 2024 migration. The transition to T+1 in North America (i.e., United States, Canada and Mexico), effective May 2024, achieved the goal of reducing settlement risk and improving post trade efficiency. At a high-level Northern Trust leveraged automation to increase straight through processing and enhance our global operating models to support our clients.
Same day allocation/confirmation automation and consistent night batch readiness.
Instruction generation with accurate data, including SSIs, and improved exception handling were critical to meeting earlier deadline.
Pre-agreed FX funding and accelerated securities lending recall workflows to reduce risk of fails.
Northern Trust has several solutions available that are proven to facilitate settlement cycle shortening and offer benefits at every step of the trade lifecycle. As such, we are well positioned to support a compressed settlement timeline. In our experience, managers should seek to embed as much automation as is possible, using an efficient number of third parties and avoid settlement breaks.
Northern Trust will look to leverage the lessons learned and our available solutions as we plan for October 2027.
Preparing for the European migration
In readiness for the 2027 deadline, Northern Trust is establishing an enterprise-wide program responsible for overseeing and coordinating impact assessments across all relevant post-trade systems and processes to meet industry and regulatory recommendations. Northern Trust is also an active participant in multiple industry working groups across Europe.
Our program will also oversee client communications, testing, and product updates (such as FX, securities lending recalls, partial settlement etc) to support our clients with fit for purpose capabilities, whether existing or new, such as:
- Comprehensive FX solutions to support trading, hedging, payments and same-day FX execution.
- Automated securities lending capabilities to support liquidity, margin requirements and minimise recalls.
- Leveraging data analytics to align our solutions with our clients’ operating model needs to increase efficiencies, oversight, and straight through processing.
Next steps
The transition to T+1 settlement across the UK, the EU and Switzerland on 11 October 2027 is a significant industry milestone. This coordinated move will enhance market efficiency, reduce risk, and align European markets with other major economies, enhancing their competitive advantage. To ensure a smooth transition, market participants should prioritize automation, review settlement instructions, engage with stakeholders to coordinate and take part in early testing opportunities. Northern Trust remains committed to supporting clients with guidance, solutions, and ongoing updates until the European migration completes on 11 October 2027.
Looking for support for the T+1 Europe transition?
News and Insights
WEBINAR
View our webinar discussion with the chairs of the UK and EU T+1 taskforces and prominent European industry T+1 leaders, to unpack the key issues you need to be aware of for a smooth transition.
ARTICLE
Insights into the move to T+1 securities settlement by the United Kingdom, European Union, Switzerland and Liechtenstein taking stock of regulatory and industry developments.
Northern Trust Banking & Markets is comprised of a number of Northern Trust entities that provide trading and execution services on behalf of institutional clients, including foreign exchange, institutional brokerage, securities finance and transition management services. Foreign exchange, securities finance and transition management services are provided by The Northern Trust Company (TNTC) globally, and Northern Trust Global Services SE (NTGS SE) in the European Economic Area (EEA). Institutional Brokerage services including ITS are provided by NTGS SE in the EEA, Northern Trust Securities LLP (NTS LLP) in the rest of EMEA, Northern Trust Securities Australia Pty Ltd (NTSA) in APAC and Northern Trust Securities, Inc. (NTSI) in the United States. For legal and regulatory information about our offices and legal entities, visit northerntrust.com/disclosures.
This marketing communication is issued and approved for distribution in the United Kingdom and European Economic Area by The Northern Trust Company, London Branch (TNTC) or Northern Trust Global Services SE (NTGS SE). TNTC is authorised and regulated by the Federal Reserve Board; authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority; subject to regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and limited regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority. NTGS SE is authorised by the European Central Bank and subject to the prudential supervision of the European Central Bank and the Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier.
You should be aware that the Material does not purport to and should not be deemed to reflect all or any particular regulatory change in any particular jurisdiction. The regulatory developments discussed herein have been selected and summarized by Northern Trust and you should not place any reliance on the accuracy or completeness of such summary.
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